DOI: 10.1002/ame2.12435
IL-37 possesses both anti-inflammatory and antiviral effects against Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection
Feifei Qi
Yiwei Yan
Qi Lv
Mingya Liu
Ming Liu
Fengdi Li
Ran Deng
Xujian Liang
Shuyue Li
Guocui Mou
Linlin Bao
Abstract：Background: The aim was to elucidate the function of IL-37 in middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection, thereby providing a novel therapeutic strategy for managing the clinical treatment of inflammatory response caused by respiratory virus infection.
Methods: We investigated the development of MERS by infecting hDPP4 mice with hCoV-EMC (10^7 TCID50 [50% tissue culture infectious dose]) intranasally. We infected A549 cells with MERS-CoV, which concurrently interfered with IL-37, detecting the viral titer, viral load, and cytokine expression at certain points postinfection. Meanwhile, we administered IL-37 (12.5 μg/kg) intravenously to hDPP4 mice 2 h after MERS-CoV-2 infection and collected the serum and lungs 5 days after infection to investigate the efficacy of IL-37 in MERS-CoV infection.
Results: The viral titer of MERS-CoV-infected A549 cells interfering with IL-37 was significantly reduced by 4.7-fold, and the viral load of MERS-CoV-infected hDPP4 mice was decreased by 59-fold in lung tissue. Furthermore, the administration of IL-37 suppressed inflammatory cytokine and chemokine (monocyte chemoattractant protein 1, interferon-γ, and IL-17A) expression and ameliorated the infiltration of inflammatory cells in hDPP4 mice.
Conclusion: IL-37 exhibits protective properties in severe pneumonia induced by MERS-CoV infection. This effect is achieved through attenuation of lung viral load, suppression of inflammatory cytokine secretion, reduction in inflammatory cell infiltration, and mitigation of pulmonary injury.
Keywords：anti-inflammationinterleukin-37MERS-CoVpneumonia
Publication Date：2025-03-30
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：10( 483-492 )