Asthma progression is involved in airway epithelial dysfunction, airway inflammatory response, and mucus hypersecretion.
Euxanthone has been found to exhibit cytotoxic activity on several human diseases, such as
neurological disorders and
cancers. Our study aimed to explore the influence of
euxanthone on
lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced injury, inflammatory response, and
mucin 5AC (MUC5AC) hypersecretion in human airway epithelial cells (AECs). Network pharmacology analysis was carried out to analyze the drug targets and key pathways of
euxanthone against
asthma. Cell injury was evaluated by
CCK-8,
Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release assay, and
terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL) assay. The production of
interleukin (IL)-6,
IL-8,
monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), and MUC5AC was measured using
enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assay (ELISA). MUC5AC
mRNA expression was detected by qRT-PCR.
Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and
myeloid differentiation factor 88 (
MyD88) protein expression was examined by western blot analysis. Venn diagram showed 14 overlapping targets between
euxanthone and
asthma. According to Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis, we focused on TLR signaling pathway. LPS exposure evoked viability reduction, increased LDH release and apoptosis, and induced production of inflammatory
cytokines (IL-6, IL-8, and MCP-1) and MUC5AC hypersecretion in human AECs, which were alleviated by
euxanthone. Mechanistically, we validated that
euxanthone attenuated LPS-induced activation of TLR4/MyD88 pathway in AECs. Moreover, inhibition of the TLR4/MyD88 pathway enhanced the inhibitory effect of
euxanthone on LPS-induced cell injury, inflammatory response and MUC5AC expression. In conclusion,
euxanthone attenuated LPS-induced cell injury, inflammatory response, and MUC5AC expression in AECs by inhibiting the activation of TLR4/MyD88 pathway.