Németh Krisztina, Petschner Peter, Pálóczi Krisztina, Fekete Nóra, Pállinger Éva, Buzás Edit I, Tamási Viola
Department of Genetics, Cell- and Immunobiology, Semmelweis University, 1089 Budapest, Hungary.
Department of Pharmacodynamics, Semmelweis University, 1089 Budapest, Hungary.
Life (Basel). 2022 Apr 26;12(5):642. doi: 10.3390/life12050642.
-butylhydroquinone (tBHQ) is an antioxidant commonly used as a food additive. Studies suggest that tBHQ could modulate immune responses to influenza and SARS-CoV-2 infection. In our transcriptomic analysis we explored the molecular mechanisms behind tBHQ's modulatory properties and the relationships to respiratory viral infections.
tBHQ was administered to BALB/c mice (1.5% [/]) for 20 days. Splenic T cells were isolated with magnetic separation and subjected to transcriptomic analysis. Gene-set enrichment analysis and g:Profiler was conducted to provide a functional interpretation of significantly changed genes. Further analysis for AHR/NRF2 binding sites was performed with GeneHancer.
In CD4 cells, we found significantly altered expression of 269 genes by tBHQ. Of them, many had relevance in influenza infection such as genes responsible for virus entry (, ), interferon signaling (, ), or prostaglandin synthesis (Ptgs1/2). In SARS-CoV-2 infections, interferon signaling (1), proteolytic enzymes (), and also cell-surface proteins (, ) were among the prominent alterations after tBHQ exposure. Of these genes, many had one or more binding sites for AHR and NRF2, two major xenosensors triggered by tBHQ.
Our results strongly suggest that a common food additive, tBHQ, can modulate virus-dependent processes in both influenza and SARS-CoV-2 infections.
叔丁基对苯二酚（tBHQ）是一种常用作食品添加剂的抗氧化剂。研究表明，tBHQ可以调节对流感和SARS-CoV-2感染的免疫反应。在我们的转录组分析中，我们探索了tBHQ调节特性背后的分子机制以及与呼吸道病毒感染的关系。
将tBHQ给予BALB/c小鼠（1.5%[/]），持续20天。通过磁性分离分离脾T细胞并进行转录组分析。进行基因集富集分析和g:Profiler以对显著变化的基因进行功能解释。使用GeneHancer对AHR/NRF2结合位点进行进一步分析。
在CD4细胞中，我们发现tBHQ使269个基因的表达发生了显著变化。其中，许多基因与流感感染相关，例如负责病毒进入的基因（，）、干扰素信号传导（，）或前列腺素合成（Ptgs1/2）。在SARS-CoV-2感染中，tBHQ暴露后干扰素信号传导（1）、蛋白水解酶（）以及细胞表面蛋白（，）是主要的变化。在这些基因中，许多基因有一个或多个AHR和NRF2的结合位点，这是由tBHQ触发的两个主要异源传感器。
我们的结果强烈表明，一种常见的食品添加剂tBHQ可以调节流感和SARS-CoV-2感染中依赖病毒的过程。
