Background Patients with IBD are considered immunosuppressed, but do not seem more vulnerable for COVID-19. Nevertheless, intestinal inflammation has shown an important risk factor for SARS-CoV-2 infection and prognosis. Therefore, we investigated the role of intestinal inflammation on the viral intestinal entry mechanisms, including ACE2, in IBD. Methods We collected inflamed and uninflamed mucosal biopsies from CD (n=193) and UC (n=158) patients, and 51 matched non-IBD controls for RNA sequencing, differential gene expression and co-expression analysis. Organoids from UC patients were subjected to an inflammatory mix and processed for RNA sequencing. Transmural ileal biopsies were processed for single-cell (sc) sequencing. Publicly available colonic sc-RNA sequencing data, and microarrays from tissue pre/post anti-TNF therapy, were analyzed. Results In inflamed CD ileum, ACE2 was significantly decreased compared to control ileum (p=4.6E-07), whereas colonic ACE2 was higher in inflamed colon of CD/UC compared to control (p=8.3E-03; p=1.9E-03). Sc-RNA sequencing confirmed this ACE2 dysregulation, and exclusive epithelial ACE2 expression. Network analyses highlighted HNF4A as key regulator of ileal ACE2, while pro-inflammatory cytokines and interferon regulating factors regulated colonic ACE2. Inflammatory stimuli upregulated ACE2 in UC organoids (p=1.7E-02), not in non-IBD controls (p=9.1E-01). Anti-TNF therapy restored colonic ACE2 regulation in responders. Conclusion Intestinal inflammation alters SARS-CoV-2 coreceptors in the intestine, with opposing dysregulations in ileum and colon. HNF4A, an IBD susceptibility gene, seems an important upstream regulator of ACE2 in ileum, whereas interferon signaling might dominate in colon.

The late stages of liver fibrosis are considered to be irreversible. Red quinoa (Chenopodium formosanum Koidz), a traditional food for Taiwanese aborigines, was gradually developed as a novel supplemental food due to high dietary fibre and polyphenolic compounds. Its bran was usually regarded as the agricultural waste, but it contained a high concentration of rutin known as an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent. This study is to explore the effect of red quinoa bran extracts on the prevention of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver fibrosis. BALB/c mice were intraperitoneally injected CCl4 to induce liver fibrosis and treated with red quinoa whole seed powder, bran ethanol extracts, bran water extracts, and rutin. In the results, red quinoa powder provided more protection than rutin against CCl4-induced oxidative stress, pro-inflammatory factor expression and fibrosis development. However, the bran ethanol extract with high rutin content provided the most liver protection and anti-fibrosis effect via blocking the tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α)/interleukin 6 (IL-6) pathway and transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1) pathway.

Cordyceps cicadae is a well-known traditional Chinese medicine for treating palpitations and eye diseases. It contains several bioactive compounds such as adenosine, N6-(2-hydroxyethyl)-adenosine (HEA), and polysaccharide. Those bioactive compounds have been reported to perform anti-oxidation and anti-inflammatory properties and provide renal protection. In this study, we researched different fermentation conditions in order to enhance the biomass, adenosine, HEA, and polysaccharide productions of C. cicadae NTTU 868. Solid fermentation was carried out with different grain substrates (barley, oat, rice and wheat). Various submerged fermentation scales were used to produce the C. cicadae NTTU 868 mycelium. The results of solid fermentation revealed that C. cicadae NTTU 868 produced higher adenosine and HEA concentrations in oat rather than in other substrates. C. cicadae NTTU 868 mycelium had obtained the highest concentrations of adenosine and HEA on Day 2 as using the small-scale submerged fermentation. Furthermore, potato dextrose broth with extra 0.2% of yeast extract was able to result in higher HEA concentration. In conclusion, using submerged fermentation to culture C. cicadae NTTU 868 resulted in more efficient adenosine, HEA, and polysaccharide productions than using solid-fermentation, especially when 0.2% of yeast extract was used in the PDB. Importantly, this can be easily scaled-up in the fermentation industry.

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Alcohol is metabolized in liver. Chronic alcohol abuse results in alcohol-induced fatty liver and liver injury. Red quinoa (Chenopodium formosanum) was a traditional staple food for Taiwanese aborigines. Red quinoa bran (RQB) included strong anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory polyphenolic compounds, but it was usually regarded as the agricultural waste. Therefore, this study is to investigate the effect of water and ethanol extraction products of RQB on the prevention of liquid alcoholic diet-induced acute liver injury in mice. The mice were given whole grain powder of red quinoa (RQ-P), RQB ethanol extract (RQB-E), RQB water extract (RQB-W), and rutin orally for 6 weeks, respectively. The results indicated that RQB-E, RQB-W, and rutin decreased alcoholic diet-induced activities of aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase, and the levels of serum triglyceride, total cholesterol, and hepatic triglyceride. Hematoxylin and eosin staining of liver tissues showed that RQB-E and RQB-W reduced lipid droplet accumulation and liver injury. However, ethanol extraction process can gain high rutin and antioxidative agents contents from red quinoa, that showed strong effects in preventing alcoholic fatty liver disease and liver injury via increasing superoxide dismutase/catalase antioxidative system and repressing the expressions of fatty acid synthesis enzyme acetyl-CoA carboxylase.

Background Citrullination is a post-translational modification of proteins, mediated by enzymes called PAD (peptidylarginine deiminases). The immune system can attack citrullinated proteins, leading to autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and ulcerative colitis, and the activity of PAD2 and PAD4 in innate immune cells has been demonstrated for these disorders. Recently, high levels of PAD2 have been described in activated fibroblasts in the context of liver fibrosis. We therefore investigated the role of PAD2 and PAD4, both in inflammatory and fibrotic contexts of ileal Crohn’s disease (CD). Methods We obtained ileal transmural samples from patients operated for stricturing ileal CD. Three different macroscopic areas within each resection specimen (i.e. proximal normal ileum, inflamed ileum and fibrotic ileum) were selected and histologically confirmed by an expert pathologist. Patients undergoing ileocolic resection for other conditions (e.g. right colon cancer) and with healthy terminal ileum were used as controls. For each region (normal CD, inflamed CD, fibrotic CD and control), immunohistochemistry (IHC), RNA and protein evaluations for PAD2 and PAD4 were performed. Multiplex immunofluorescence (IF) for PAD2, PAD4, myeloperoxidase, neutrophil elastase, CD68, vimentin and α-smooth muscle actin were carried out to investigate the enzymes-expressing cells. Additional IF was performed to study citrullinated histone 3 (H3cit) expression, the product of PAD4 activity in neutrophils and component of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). Statistical analysis was carried out with Kruskal–Wallis test and post hoc Mann–Whitney test. Results Resection specimens from 13 CD and 11 controls were included. IHC and IF showed an increased expression of both PAD2 and PAD4 in the neutrophils of inflamed areas, in cytoplasm and nucleus, respectively (Figure 1). Activated fibroblasts (vimentin+ and α-smooth muscle actin+) were negative for both enzymes. PAD4 mRNA expression was increased in inflamed tissue (p = 0.001, p = 0.008 and p = 0.028 vs. normal CD, fibrotic CD and controls, respectively), and confirmed using Western Blot (Figure 2). H3cit was increased in the ileal inflammatory infiltrates too (Figure 3), confirming high PAD4 expression. For PAD2, no significant changes were observed at RNA and protein level, mainly due to its reduced expression in epithelial cells from normal to diseased tissue (Figure 4). Conclusion Both PAD2 and PAD4 are strongly expressed in neutrophils of CD ileal resection specimens, but only PAD4 shows a significantly higher expression in the inflammatory context which translates in the formation of NETs. No direct correlation was observed between PAD enzymes and intestinal fibroblasts.

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