Effects of different principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine treatment on TLR7/NF-κB signaling pathway in influenza virus infected mice

Abstract

BackgroundInfluenza virus is a single-stranded RNA virus that causes influenza in humans and animals. About 600 million people around the world suffer from influenza every year. Upon recognizing viral RNA molecules, TLR7 (Toll-like receptor) initiates corresponding immune responses. Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCMs), including Yinqiao powder, Xinjiaxiangruyin and Guizhi-and-Mahuang decoction, have been extensively applied in clinical treatment of influenza. Although the therapeutic efficacy of TCMs against influenza virus in vivo was reported previously, its underlying mechanisms are not clearly understood. This study aimed to investigate the immunological mechanisms in the treatment of influenza virus infected mice with three Chinese herbal compounds as well as the effect on TLR7/NF-κB signaling pathway during recovery.MethodsWild type and TLR7 KO C57BL/6 mice were infected with influenza virus FM1 and then treated with three TCMs. The physical parameters of mice (body weight and lung index) and the expression levels of components in TLR7/NF-κB signaling pathway were evaluated.ResultsAfter viral infection, Guizhi-and-Mahuang decoction and Yinqiao powder showed better anti-viral effect under normal condition. Compared to the viral control group, expression levels of TLR7, MyD88, IRAK4 and NF-κB were significantly reduced in all treatment groups. Furthermore, the three TCM treatment groups showed poor therapeutic efficacy and no difference in viral load compared to the viral control group in TLR7 KO mice.ConclusionOur study indicated that Guizhi-and-Mahuang decoction and Yinqiao powder might play a crucial role of anti-influenza virus by regulating TLR7/NF-κB signal pathway.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13020-018-0199-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Injured liver-released miRNA-122 elicits acute pulmonary inflammation via activating alveolar macrophage TLR7 signaling pathway

“…C57Bl/6J and SCID (severe combined immune deficiency) mice were purchased from the Model Animal Research Center, Nanjing University (Nanjing, China). Tlr7-KO mice were obtained from The Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, Maine) and all the KO mice were backcrossed with C57BL/6 mice over 10 generations (32). All mouse protocols followed the National Institutes of Health guidelines for the care and use of mice and were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Nanjing University (Nanjing, China).…”

Therapeutic Effects and Molecular Network Mechanism of Chinese herbs for Coronavirus Disease-19

“…In recent research, it has been reported that TCM enhanced antibody production, maintain the balance between Th1 and Th2/Th17 cells for the prevention of viral pneumonia (Fu et al,2018). This study has proved that BFQW had a better therapeutic effect in patients with COVID-19.…”

Prediction of the mechanisms of action of Yinqiao powder in Influenza: A network pharmacology study

“…The expression of TLR7, MyD88, IRAK4, and NF-κB was signi cantly decreased in the YQP group, but the therapeutic effect of YQP on TLR7 KO mice was poor. This suggests that YQP may play an anti-in uenza role by regulating TLR7/NF-κB [30] . As for the MAPK pathway, some studies have reported that Raf/MEK/ERK signaling plays an important role in in uenza virus proliferation.…”