2. Academic Validation
  3. Itaconic acid exerts anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects via promoting pentose phosphate pathway to produce ROS

Itaconic acid exerts anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects via promoting pentose phosphate pathway to produce ROS

  • Sci Rep. 2021 Sep 13;11(1):18173. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-97352-x.
Xiaoyang Zhu 1,  Yangyang Guo 2,  Zhigang Liu 2,  Jingyi Yang 3,  Huiru Tang 1,  Yulan Wang 4
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Zhongshan Hospital and School of Life Sciences, Laboratory of Metabonomics and Systems Biology, Human Phenome Institute, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China.
  • 2 CAS Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems, State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, China.
  • 3 Wuhan Institute of Virology, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, China.
  • 4 Singapore Phenome Center, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 636921, Singapore. [email protected].
PMID: 34518559 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-97352-x
Abstract

Itaconic acid is produced by immune responsive gene 1 (IRG1)-coded Enzyme in activated macrophages and known to play an important role in metabolism and immunity. In this study, mechanism of itaconic acid functioning as an anti-inflammatory metabolite was investigated with Molecular Biology and immunology techniques, by employing IRG1-null (prepared with CRISPR) and wild-type macrophages. Experimental results showed that itaconic acid significantly promoted the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP), which subsequently led to significantly higher NADPH Oxidase activity and more Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) production. ROS production increased the expression of anti-inflammatory gene A20, which in turn decreased the production of inflammatory cytokines IL-6, IL-1β and TNF-α. NF-κB, which can up-regulate A20, was also vital in controlling IRG1 and itaconic acid involved immune-modulatory responses in LPS-stimulated macrophage in this study. In addition, itaconic acid inhibited the growth of Salmonella typhimurium in cell through increasing ROS production from NADPH Oxidase and the hatching of Schistosoma japonicum eggs in vitro. In short, this study revealed an alternative mechanism by which itaconic acid acts as an anti-inflammatory metabolite and confirmed the inhibition of Bacterial pathogens with itaconic acid via ROS in cell. These findings provide the basic knowledge for future biological applications of itaconic acid in anti-inflammation and related pathogens control.

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