2. Academic Validation
  3. Danshensu alleviates pseudo-typed SARS-CoV-2 induced mouse acute lung inflammation

Danshensu alleviates pseudo-typed SARS-CoV-2 induced mouse acute lung inflammation

  • Acta Pharmacol Sin. 2022 Apr;43(4):771-780. doi: 10.1038/s41401-021-00714-4.
Wei Wang # 1,  Sha-Sha Li # 1,  Xin-Feng Xu # 1,  Chan Yang 1,  Xiao-Ge Niu 1,  Shu-Xian Yin 2,  Xiao-Yan Pan 3,  Wei Xu 1,  Guo-Dong Hu 2,  Chan Wang 4,  Shu-Wen Liu 5 6
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New Drug Screening, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510515, China.
  • 2 Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510515, China.
  • 3 State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Center for Biosafety Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, China.
  • 4 Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New Drug Screening, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510515, China. [email protected].
  • 5 Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New Drug Screening, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510515, China. [email protected].
  • 6 State Key Laboratory of Organ Failure Research, Guangdong Provincial Institute of Nephrology, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510515, China. [email protected].
  • # Contributed equally.
PMID: 34267343 DOI: 10.1038/s41401-021-00714-4
Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can induce acute inflammatory response like acute lung inflammation (ALI) or acute respiratory distress syndrome, leading to severe progression and mortality. Therapeutics for treatment of SARS-CoV-2-triggered respiratory inflammation are urgent to be discovered. Our previous study shows that Salvianolic acid C potently inhibits SARS-CoV-2 Infection. In this study, we investigated the Antiviral effects of a Salvia miltiorrhiza compound, Danshensu, in vitro and in vivo, including the mechanism of S protein-mediated virus attachment and entry into target cells. In authentic and pseudo-typed virus assays in vitro, Danshensu displayed a potent Antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 with EC50 of 0.97 μM, and potently inhibited the entry of SARS-CoV-2 S protein-pseudo-typed virus (SARS-CoV-2 S) into ACE2-overexpressed HEK-293T cells (IC50 = 0.31 μM) and Vero-E6 cell (IC50 = 4.97 μM). Mice received SARS-CoV-2 S via trachea to induce ALI, while the VSV-G treated mice served as controls. The mice were administered Danshensu (25, 50, 100 mg/kg, i.v., once) or Danshensu (25, 50, 100 mg·kg-1·d-1, oral administration, for 7 days) before SARS-CoV-2 S Infection. We showed that SARS-CoV-2 S Infection induced severe inflammatory cell infiltration, severely damaged lung tissue structure, highly expressed levels of inflammatory cytokines, and activated TLR4 and hyperphosphorylation of the NF-κB p65; the high expression of Angiotensinogen (AGT) and low expression of ACE2 at the mRNA level in the lung tissue were also observed. Both oral and intravenous pretreatment with Danshensu dose-dependently alleviated the pathological alterations in mice infected with SARS-CoV-2 S. This study not only establishes a mouse model of pseudo-typed SARS-CoV-2 (SARS-CoV-2 S) induced ALI, but also demonstrates that Danshensu is a potential treatment for COVID-19 patients to inhibit the lung inflammatory response.

Keywords

Danshensu; SARS-CoV-2; acute lung inflammation; inflammatory cytokines; spike protein.

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