(E)-1-(4-ethoxyphenyl)-3-(4-nitrophenyl)-prop-2-en-1-one suppresses LPS-induced inflammatory response through inhibition of NF-κB signaling pathway

•We have found a novel chalcone, ETH, which exhibits inhibitory effect on LPS induced inflammation.•ETH inhibits pro-inflammatory mediators expression on LPS stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages.•ETH suppresses the activation of NF-κB signaling pathway by LPS induction.

Flavonoids are a class of compounds that exist in nature with the structure of 2-phenyl-chromone. In Chinese traditional medicine, herbal drugs containing flavonoids are widely used for the treatment of inflammation, cardiovascular disease, tumor and so on. In this study, we investigated the anti-inflammatory effect and related mechanisms of a novel synthetic flavonoid, (E)-1-(4-ethoxyphenyl)-3-(4-nitrophenyl)-prop-2-en-1-one (ETH) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulated macrophages. Our results showed that ETH inhibited LPS-induced TNF-α and IL-6 release in a dose-dependent manner, and decreased TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6 and iNOS mRNA production. LPS-induced expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) was also significantly attenuated by ETH. Pretreatment with ETH reduced the I-κBα phosphorylation, p65 nuclear translocation as well as NF-κB-dependent transcriptional activity. In addition, ETH exhibited a significant protection against LPS-induced inflammatory mortality in mice. Taken together, these findings suggest that ETH can inhibit LPS-induced inflammation via suppressing NF-κB signaling pathway, indicating that ETH may be a potential anti-inflammatory agent.