According to research, Oleic acid (OVA) from the plant Fishhook Senna (Caesalpinia bonduc) exhibits anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-allergic, and analgesic activities. Professor Huang Cheng's team investigated the pharmacological mechanism of OVA in inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 infection and pulmonary fibrosis both in vitro and in vivo.
The results showed that OVA is an effective inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro, significantly suppressing SARS-CoV-2 infection. Additionally, OVA improved pulmonary fibrosis induced by bleomycin (BLM) in mice, reducing inflammatory cell infiltration and collagen deposition in the lungs. OVA also reduced the levels of hydroxyproline and myeloperoxidase in BLM-induced pulmonary fibrosis mice, as well as the levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and TGF-β in the lungs and serum.
Furthermore, OVA reduced the migration of TGF-β1-induced fibroblasts and the transformation of fibroblasts into myofibroblasts. Through computational analysis, OVA was found to have a chemical structure similar to kinase inhibitors TβRI and TβRII, showing potential interactions with their key pharmacophores and the presumed ATP-binding domain. This suggests OVA's potential as a TβRI and TβRII kinase inhibitor.
In conclusion, OVA's dual function highlights its potential not only in combating SARS-CoV-2 infection but also in controlling lung fibrosis caused by injury.
This research has been officially published in "Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy," and the full article can be accessed at the following website: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S075333222300269X?via%3Dihub.