Ergosterol peroxide exhibits antiviral and immunomodulatory abilities against porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) via suppression of NF-κB and p38/MAPK signaling pathways in vitro

Antiviral effects of ergosterol peroxide in a pig model of porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) infection involves modulation of apoptosis and tight junction in the small intestine

“…Ergosterol peroxide was extracted from Cryptoporus volvatus with a purity of over 97%. Extraction and purity determination were done as previously described [ 9 ]. Briefly, air-dried fruiting bodies of C. volvatus (4800 g) were smashed and extracted with 90% ethanol 3 times under reflux for 1 h. The solvent was removed under reduced pressure to yield ~1240 g of the ethanol extract, which was then suspended in water and partitioned with petroleum ether, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate and n -butanol.…”

“…RNA was converted to cDNA using the HiFiScript cDNA Synthesis Kit (CoWin Biosciences, China). Viral RNA and cytokine mRNA were analyzed by RT-qPCR as previously described [ 9 ]. The specific primers crossing PDCoV ORF1a and ORF1b and the specific primers for porcine IL-1β, IL-6, IL-12, TNF-α, IFN-α, IFN-β and β-actin were listed in Table 1 .…”

“…Our recent study has shown that ergosterol peroxide (EP) from the mushroom Cryptoporus volvatus possesses efficient anti-PDCoV properties [ 9 ]. It can reduce LLC-PK1 cells apoptosis caused by PDCoV infection.…”

“…NF-κB is highly activated in diverse CoVs and the NF-κB-induced inflammatory response plays an important role in the development of pathogenesis and disease in CoVs infections [ 15 , 16 ]. PDCoV infection induces NF-κB activation and cytokine expression, which can be alleviated with the addition of EP in vitro [ 9 ]. Here, we detected whether there were similar phenomena in vivo.…”

“…The p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway is a well-known signal transducer that responds to extracellular stimulation by cytokines, stress, and viral infection, and in turn regulates cell differentiation, survival, and apoptosis [ 19 ]. Our previous study showed that p38 inhibitor inhibited PDCoV replication and EP alleviated p38 activation induced by PDCoV infection in vitro [ 9 ].…”