Resveratrol attenuates inflammation and apoptosis through alleviating endoplasmic reticulum stress via Akt/mTOR pathway in fungus-induced allergic airways inflammation

Background: Resveratrol has shown pleiotropic effects against inflammation and oxidative response. The present study aimed to investigate the effects and mechanisms of resveratrol on fungus-induced allergic airway inflammation.

Methods: Female BALB/c mice were injected intraperitoneally with Aspergillus fumigatus (Af) extract emulsified with aluminum on day 0 and 7 and intranasally challenged with Af extracts on day 14 and 15. Resveratrol or dexamethasone or a vehicle was injected intraperitoneally 1 h before each challenge. Mice were sacrificed for serum, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), and lungs 24 h after the last challenge. The control group was administered with saline. BEAS-2B was used for the experiments in vitro that Af-exposed airway epithelial cells.

Results: Resveratrol and dexamethasone attenuated the airway inflammation and eosinophilia, and reduced not only the production of IL-4, IL-5, and IL-13 in the BALF and lung tissues but also the mRNA levels of lung IL-6, TNF-α, and TGF-β induced by Af challenge (P < 0.05). Furthermore, Af-induced lung endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-related proteins PERK, CHOP, and GRP78 and the Apoptosis markers including cleaved Caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-7 were both suppressed significantly by resveratrol (P < 0.05). In vitro, activation of ER stress and the Akt/mTOR pathway in Af-exposed BEAS-2B cells were effectively ameliorated by resveratrol. Inhibition of the Akt/mTOR pathway using LY294002 suppressed the ER stress while ER stress inhibitor 4-PBA decreased the Apoptosis in Af-exposed BEAS-2B cells.

Conclusions: Our findings collectively revealed that resveratrol alleviated the Af-exposed allergic inflammation and Apoptosis through inhibiting ER stress via Akt/mTOR pathway, exerting therapeutic effects on the fungus-induced allergic lung disorder.