Huashibaidu formula attenuates sepsis-induced acute lung injury via suppressing cytokine storm: Implications for treatment of COVID-19

  • Phytomedicine. 2023 Jan:109:154549. doi: 10.1016/j.phymed.2022.154549.
Fangbo Zhang  1 ,  Feifei Guo  1 ,  Yi Zhang  1 ,  He Xu  1 ,  Yuling Liu  1 ,  Longfei Lin  1 ,  Hui Li  1 ,  Hongjun Yang  2 ,  Luqi Huang  3
Affiliations
  • 1. Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, No. 16 Nanxiaojie, Dongzhimennei Ave, Beijing 100700, China.
  • 2. Experimental Research Center, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, No. 16 Nanxiaojie, Dongzhimennei Ave, Beijing 100700, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 3. National Resource Center for Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, No. 16 Nanxiaojie, Dongzhimennei Ave, Beijing 100700, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
PMID: 36610129 DOI: 10.1016/j.phymed.2022.154549
Abstract

Background: Acute lung injury (ALI) is a common complication of sepsis with poor effective interventions. Huashibaidu formula (HSBD) showed good therapeutic effects in treating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients.

Purpose: This study was designed to investigate the therapeutic potential and precise mechanism of HSBD against sepsis-induced ALI based on network pharmacology and animal experiments.

Materials and methods: Network pharmacology was used to predict the possible mechanism of HSBD against sepsis. Next, a sepsis-induced ALI rat model via intraperitoneal lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was constructed to evaluate the level of inflammatory cytokines and the degree of lung injury. The expression of inflammation-related signaling pathways, including TLR4/NF-κB and PI3K/Akt was determined by western blot.

Results: Network pharmacology analysis indicated that HSBD might have a therapeutic effect on sepsis mainly by affecting inflammatory and immune responses. Animal experiments demonstrated that HSBD protected the lung tissue from LPS-induced injury, and inhibited the levels of inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-1β, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), interferon (IFN)-γ and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in the serum and IL-1β, IL-5, IL-6, IL-18, GM-CSF, IFN-γ and TNF-α in the lung tissue. Western blot results revealed that HSBD downregulated the expression of TLR4/NF-κB and upregulated the expression of PI3K/Akt.

Conclusion: The therapeutic mechanism of HSBD against sepsis-induced ALI mainly involved suppressing cytokine storms and relieving inflammatory symptoms by regulating the expression of TLR4/NF-κB and PI3K/Akt. Our study provides a scientific basis for the mechanistic investigation and clinical application of HSBD in the treatment of sepsis and COVID-19.

Keywords
Acute lung injury; COVID-19; Cytokine storm; Huashibaidu formula; Lipopolysaccharide; Sepsis.
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