ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Viral Immunology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1633882
This article is part of the Research TopicImmunological Regulation to Enteroviruses and Respiratory Viruses: Infection and Vaccination ResponsesView all 8 articles
Ouabain alleviates Mycobacterium abscessus-triggered inflammatory responses through dual regulation of NLRP3 inflammasome activity and M1 macrophage polarization
Provisionally accepted
- 1Shenzhen People's Hospital, Shenzhen, China
- 2Zaozhuang University, Zaozhuang, China
- 3Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China
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Mycobacterium abscessus (M. abscessus), one of the most drug-resistant and difficult-to-treat pathogens, causes mainly chronic pulmonary inflammation in humans. The cardiac glycoside ouabain has shown a broad spectrum of anti-inflammatory properties in various disease models. However, its therapeutic potential against M. abscessus-induced pneumonia is still unexplored. In this study, we aim to investigate the role of ouabain in M. abscessus-induced inflammation. Our results showed that ouabain significantly attenuated the inflammatory responses induced by M. abscessus by decreasing the expression of the proinflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β. H&E results showed that intraperitoneal administration of ouabain attenuated M. abscessus-induced lung inflammation and damage. Transcriptomic analyses and qPCR results also showed that ouabain treatment significantly suppressed the upregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines induced by M. abscessus and downregulated NLRP3 inflammasome expression and IL-1β secretion in vivo. In vitro experiments also confirmed that ouabain treatment effectively suppressed both NLRP3 inflammasome activation and M1 macrophage polarisation. Taken together, these results suggest that ouabain alleviates M. abscessus-induced pulmonary inflammation by two mechanisms: Inhibition of NLRP3 inflammasome activation and modulation of M1 macrophage polarisation. This work emphasises the potential of ouabain as a therapeutic candidate for the control of M. abscessus infections.
Keywords: mycobacterium abscessus, Ouabain, pulmonary inflammation, M1 macrophage polarization, NLRP3 inflammasome activation
Received: 23 May 2025; Accepted: 22 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Huang, Shi, Kuo, Yu, Qiu and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Chen Qiu, Shenzhen People's Hospital, Shenzhen, China
Rongchang Chen, Shenzhen People's Hospital, Shenzhen, China
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