Babaodan controls excessive immune responses and may represent a cytokine-targeted agent suitable for COVID-19 treatment.
Biomed Pharmacother
; 139: 111586, 2021 Jul.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1188337
ABSTRACT
It has become evident that the actions of pro-inflammatory cytokines and/or the development of a cytokine storm are responsible for the occurrence of severe COVID-19 during SARS-CoV-2 infection. Although immunomodulatory mechanisms vary among viruses, the activation of multiple TLRs that occurs primarily through the recruitment of adapter proteins such as MyD88 and TRIF contributes to the induction of a cytokine storm. Based on this, controlling the robust production of pro-inflammatory cytokines by macrophages may be applicable as a cellular approach to investigate potential cytokine-targeted therapies against COVID-19. In the current study, we utilized TLR2/MyD88 and TLR3/TRIF co-activated macrophages and evaluated the anti-cytokine storm effect of the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula Babaodan (BBD). An RNA-seq-based transcriptomic approach was used to determine the molecular mode of action. Additionally, we evaluated the anti-inflammatory activity of BBD in vivo using a mouse model of post-viral bacterial infection-induced pneumonia and seven severely ill COVID-19 patients. Our study reveals the protective role of BBD against excessive immune responses in macrophages, where the underlying mechanisms involve the inhibition of the NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathways. In vivo, BBD significantly inhibited the release of IL-6, thus resulting in increased survival rates in mice. Based on limited data, we demonstrated that severely ill COVID-19 patients benefited from BBD treatment due to a reduction in the overproduction of IL-6. In conclusion, our study indicated that BBD controls excessive immune responses and may thus represent a cytokine-targeted agent that could be considered to treating COVID-19.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Cytokines
/
COVID-19
/
COVID-19 Drug Treatment
/
Medicine, Chinese Traditional
/
Anti-Inflammatory Agents
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Prognostic study
Topics:
Long Covid
/
Traditional medicine
Limits:
Animals
/
Female
/
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Biomed Pharmacother
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
J.biopha.2021.111586
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