Table 3_Yiguanjian alleviates ocular surface inflammation and lacrimal gland immune dysregulation in experimental dry eye disease: evidence from in vivo and in vitro models.xlsx

AS2863619 and Peptide P60 were used to explore Foxp3-associated regulation.</p>Results<p>In BAC-induced dry eye rats, YGJ improved tear secretion and tear film stability, reduced corneal fluorescein staining, and alleviated corneal and lacrimal gland histopathological injury, with partial preservation of meibomian gland and conjunctival morphology. YGJ reduced lacrimal gland Th17 proportions, restored Treg proportions, increased Foxp3 and IL-10 expression, decreased RORγt and IL-17A expression, and reduced lacrimal gland STAT3 phosphorylation.

UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS yielded 67 candidate annotations corresponding to 56 distinct LC–MS features in YCS. In the hyperosmotic co-culture model, YCS improved epithelial cell viability, reduced ROS accumulation in CD4⁺ T cells, suppressed Th17-related responses, and enhanced Treg-associated immunoregulation. AS2863619 produced effects comparable to YCS, whereas Peptide P60 weakened Foxp3-associated immunoregulation; combined YCS treatment partially attenuated Peptide P60-induced changes.</p>Conclusion<p>YGJ attenuated DED-related inflammatory injury in vivo and modulated lacrimal gland epithelial cell–CD4⁺ T-cell inflammatory interactions in vitro.

These findings were accompanied by reduced lacrimal gland STAT3 phosphorylation in vivo and lower ROS accumulation in CD4⁺ T cells in vitro, together with Foxp3-associated improvement of the Th17/Treg balance; however, the causal relationship between the STAT3 and ROS findings was not established.</p>