ABSTRACT
To evaluate the effects of Caspase-3 (CASP3) gene expression and serum levels on preventing severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. A total of 41 individuals (male: 21; female: 20) with SARS-CoV-2 infection were included in the current study. Hemograms were examined from patient blood samples, and CASP3 gene expression levels were detected. Also, human CASP3 levels were determined from the serum samples of patients. The mean age of patients was 56.220 ± 18.937 years. Significant differences were detected among all groups for CASP3 2-ΔΔCt (p = 0.014) and CASP3 concentration (p = 0.024). The relationship between CASP3 2-ΔΔCt levels and hemoglobin (p = 0.023), between CASP3 2-ΔΔCt levels and C-reactive protein (CRP) (p = 0.001), between CASP3 2-ΔΔCt levels and ferritin (p = 0.003), between CASP3 2-ΔΔCt levels and lactate dehydrogenase (p = 0.001), and between CASP3 2-ΔΔCt levels and SpO2 (p = 0.006) were statistically significant. Also, the relationship between CASP3 concentration levels and SpO2 was statistically significant (p < 0.046). The CASP3 gene and/or its products have an important function to prevent injury caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection. They play crucial roles in maintaining cellular homeostasis and viability. Perhaps CASP3 levels may provide information about the severity of the disease.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Adult , Aged , C-Reactive Protein , Caspase 3/genetics , Caspase 3/metabolism , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , RNA, Viral , SARS-CoV-2ABSTRACT
Disruption of the alveolar-endothelial barrier caused by inflammation leads to the progression of septic acute lung injury (ALI). In the present study, we investigated the beneficial effects of simvastatin on the endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced ALI and its related mechanisms. A model of ALI was induced within experimental sepsis developed by intraperitoneal injection of a single non-lethal LPS dose after short-term simvastatin pretreatment (10-40 mg/kg orally). The severity of the lung tissue inflammatory injury was expressed as pulmonary damage scores (PDS). Alveolar epithelial cell apoptosis was confirmed by TUNEL assay (DNA fragmentation) and expressed as an apoptotic index (AI), and immunohistochemically for cleaved caspase-3, cytochrome C, and anti-apoptotic Bcl-xL, an inhibitor of apoptosis, survivin, and transcriptional factor, NF-kB/p65. Severe inflammatory injury of pulmonary parenchyma (PDS 3.33 ± 0.48) was developed after the LPS challenge, whereas simvastatin significantly and dose-dependently protected lung histology after LPS (p < 0.01). Simvastatin in a dose of 40 mg/kg showed the most significant effects in amelioration alveolar epithelial cells apoptosis, demonstrating this as a marked decrease of AI (p < 0.01 vs. LPS), cytochrome C, and cleaved caspase-3 expression. Furthermore, simvastatin significantly enhanced the expression of Bcl-xL and survivin. Finally, the expression of survivin and its regulator NF-kB/p65 in the alveolar epithelium was in strong positive correlation across the groups. Simvastatin could play a protective role against LPS-induced ALI and apoptosis of the alveolar-endothelial barrier. Taken together, these effects were seemingly mediated by inhibition of caspase 3 and cytochrome C, a finding that might be associated with the up-regulation of cell-survival survivin/NF-kB/p65 pathway and Bcl-xL.
Subject(s)
Acute Lung Injury , NF-kappa B , Acute Lung Injury/chemically induced , Acute Lung Injury/drug therapy , Acute Lung Injury/metabolism , Alveolar Epithelial Cells/metabolism , Apoptosis , Caspase 3/genetics , Caspase 3/metabolism , Cytochromes c/metabolism , Endotoxins/adverse effects , Humans , Lipopolysaccharides/toxicity , Lung/pathology , NF-kappa B/metabolism , Simvastatin/adverse effects , Survivin/genetics , Up-RegulationABSTRACT
BACKGROUND Heat-clearing and detoxifying herbs (HDHs) play an important role in the prevention and treatment of coronavirus infection. However, their mechanism of action needs further study. This study aimed to explore the anti-coronavirus basis and mechanism of HDHs. MATERIAL AND METHODS Database mining was performed on 7 HDHs. Core ingredients and targets were screened according to ADME rules combined with Neighborhood, Co-occurrence, Co-expression, and other algorithms. GO enrichment and KEGG pathway analyses were performed using the R language. Finally, high-throughput molecular docking was used for verification. RESULTS HDHs mainly acts on NOS3, EGFR, IL-6, MAPK8, PTGS2, MAPK14, NFKB1, and CASP3 through quercetin, luteolin, wogonin, indirubin alkaloids, ß-sitosterol, and isolariciresinol. These targets are mainly involved in the regulation of biological processes such as inflammation, activation of MAPK activity, and positive regulation of NF-kappaB transcription factor activity. Pathway analysis further revealed that the pathways regulated by these targets mainly include: signaling pathways related to viral and bacterial infections such as tuberculosis, influenza A, Ras signaling pathways; inflammation-related pathways such as the TLR, TNF, MAPK, and HIF-1 signaling pathways; and immune-related pathways such as NOD receptor signaling pathways. These pathways play a synergistic role in inhibiting lung inflammation and regulating immunity and antiviral activity. CONCLUSIONS HDHs play a role in the treatment of coronavirus infection by regulating the body's immunity, fighting inflammation, and antiviral activities, suggesting a molecular basis and new strategies for the treatment of COVID-19 and a foundation for the screening of new antiviral drugs.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 Drug Treatment , Coronavirus/drug effects , Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology , SARS-CoV-2/drug effects , Alkaloids/chemistry , Alkaloids/pharmacology , Caspase 3/drug effects , Caspase 3/genetics , Coronavirus/metabolism , Coronavirus Infections/drug therapy , Cyclooxygenase 2/drug effects , Cyclooxygenase 2/genetics , Databases, Pharmaceutical , Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry , Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use , Flavanones/chemistry , Flavanones/pharmacology , Humans , Indoles/chemistry , Indoles/pharmacology , Interleukin-6/genetics , Lignin/chemistry , Lignin/pharmacology , Luteolin/chemistry , Luteolin/pharmacology , Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 14/drug effects , Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 14/genetics , Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 8/drug effects , Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 8/genetics , Molecular Docking Simulation , NF-kappa B p50 Subunit/drug effects , NF-kappa B p50 Subunit/genetics , Naphthols/chemistry , Naphthols/pharmacology , Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III/drug effects , Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III/genetics , Protein Interaction Maps , Quercetin/chemistry , Quercetin/pharmacology , SARS-CoV-2/metabolism , Signal Transduction , Sitosterols/chemistry , Sitosterols/pharmacology , Transcriptome/drug effects , Transcriptome/geneticsABSTRACT
COVID 19 disease has become a global catastrophe over the past year that has claimed the lives of over two million people around the world. Despite the introduction of vaccines against the disease, there is still a long way to completely eradicate it. There are concerns about the complications following infection with SARS-CoV-2. This research aimed to evaluate the possible correlation between infection with SARS-CoV viruses and cancer in an in-silico study model. To do this, the relevent dataset was selected from GEO database. Identification of differentially expressed genes among defined groups including SARS-CoV, SARS-dORF6, SARS-BatSRBD, and H1N1 were screened where the |Log FC| ≥ 1and p < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Later, the pathway enrichment analysis and gene ontology (GO) were used by Enrichr and Shiny GO databases. Evaluation with STRING online was applied to predict the functional interactions of proteins, followed by Cytoscape analysis to identify the master genes. Finally, analysis with GEPIA2 server was carried out to reveal the possible correlation between candidate genes and cancer development. The results showed that the main molecular function of up- and down-regulated genes was "double-stranded RNA binding" and actin-binding, respectively. STRING and Cytoscape analysis presented four genes, PTEN, CREB1, CASP3, and SMAD3 as the key genes involved in cancer development. According to TCGA database results, these four genes were up-regulated notably in pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Our findings suggest that pancreatic adenocarcinoma is the most probably malignancy happening after infection with SARS-CoV family.
Subject(s)
Adenocarcinoma/etiology , COVID-19/complications , Carcinogenesis/genetics , Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype , Influenza, Human/complications , Pancreatic Neoplasms/etiology , SARS-CoV-2 , Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome/complications , Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus , COVID-19/genetics , COVID-19/metabolism , COVID-19/virology , Caspase 3/genetics , Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein/genetics , Gene Expression Regulation , Gene Ontology , Humans , Influenza, Human/genetics , Influenza, Human/metabolism , Influenza, Human/virology , PTEN Phosphohydrolase/genetics , Protein Interaction Maps , Risk , Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome/genetics , Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome/metabolism , Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome/virology , Signal Transduction/genetics , Smad3 Protein/genetics , Up-Regulation/geneticsABSTRACT
ShuFeng JieDu capsule (SFJDC), a traditional Chinese medicine, has been recommended for the treatment of COVID-19 infections. However, the pharmacological mechanism of SFJDC still remains vague to date. The active ingredients and their target genes of SFJDC were collected from TCMSP. COVID-19 is a type of Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia (NCP). NCP-related target genes were collected from GeneCards database. The ingredients-targets network of SFJDC and PPI networks were constructed. The candidate genes were screened by Venn diagram package for enrichment analysis. The gene-pathway network was structured to obtain key target genes. In total, 124 active ingredients, 120 target genes of SFJDC and 251 NCP-related target genes were collected. The functional annotations cluster 1 of 23 candidate genes (CGs) were related to lung and Virus infection. RELA, MAPK1, MAPK14, CASP3, CASP8 and IL6 were the key target genes. The results suggested that SFJDC cloud be treated COVID-19 by multi-compounds and multi-pathways, and this study showed that the mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the treatment of disease from the overall perspective.