{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,16]],"date-time":"2026-06-16T22:19:50Z","timestamp":1781648390307,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,23]],"date-time":"2021-04-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1619136000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Research Foundation of Korea","award":["NRF-2015R1A5A2009656"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NRF-2015R1A5A2009656"]}]},{"name":"National Research Foundation of Korea","award":["NRF-2017R1D1A3B06029459"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NRF-2017R1D1A3B06029459"]}]},{"name":"National Research Foundation of Korea","award":["NRF-2020R1A2C2011654"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NRF-2020R1A2C2011654"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Marine Drugs"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Scleroderma is an autoimmune disease caused by the abnormal regulation of extracellular matrix synthesis and is activated by non-regulated inflammatory cells and cytokines. Echinochrome A (EchA), a natural pigment isolated from sea urchins, has been demonstrated to have antioxidant activities and beneficial effects in various disease models. The present study demonstrates for the first time that EchA treatment alleviates bleomycin-induced scleroderma by normalizing dermal thickness and suppressing collagen deposition in vivo. EchA treatment reduces the number of activated myofibroblasts expressing \u03b1-SMA, vimentin, and phosphorylated Smad3 in bleomycin-induced scleroderma. In addition, it decreased the number of macrophages, including M1 and M2 types in the affected skin, suggesting the induction of an anti-inflammatory effect. Furthermore, EchA treatment markedly attenuated serum levels of inflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor-\u03b1 and interferon-\u03b3, in a murine scleroderma model. Taken together, these results suggest that EchA is highly useful for the treatment of scleroderma, exerting anti-fibrosis and anti-inflammatory effects.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/md19050237","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,23]],"date-time":"2021-04-23T12:08:30Z","timestamp":1619179710000},"page":"237","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":31,"title":["Echinochrome A Treatment Alleviates Fibrosis and Inflammation in Bleomycin-Induced Scleroderma"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"19","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6649-8783","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gyu-Tae","family":"Park","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physiology, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Yangsan 50612, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jung-Won","family":"Yoon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physiology, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Yangsan 50612, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sang-Bin","family":"Yoo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physiology, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Yangsan 50612, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Young-Chul","family":"Song","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physiology, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Yangsan 50612, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5004-3389","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Parkyong","family":"Song","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Convergence Medicine, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Yangsan 50612, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hyoung-Kyu","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Research Laboratory for Mitochondrial Signaling, Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease Center (CMDC), Inje University, Busan 47392, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1859-3425","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jin","family":"Han","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Research Laboratory for Mitochondrial Signaling, Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease Center (CMDC), Inje University, Busan 47392, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8975-0876","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sung-Jin","family":"Bae","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Healthy Aging Korean Medical Research Center, Pusan National University, Yangsan 50612, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6283-0171","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ki-Tae","family":"Ha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Korean Medical Science, School of Korean Medicine, Pusan National University, Yangsan 50612, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7616-574X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Natalia P.","family":"Mishchenko","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"G.B. Elyakov Pacific Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Far-Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Science, 690022 Vladivostok, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4199-2099","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sergey A.","family":"Fedoreyev","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"G.B. Elyakov Pacific Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Far-Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Science, 690022 Vladivostok, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Valentin A.","family":"Stonik","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"G.B. Elyakov Pacific Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Far-Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Science, 690022 Vladivostok, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Moon-Bum","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Yangsan 50612, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jae-Ho","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physiology, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Yangsan 50612, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"557","DOI":"10.1172\/JCI31139","article-title":"Systemic sclerosis: A prototypic multisystem fibrotic disorder","volume":"117","author":"Varga","year":"2007","journal-title":"J. Clin. 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