Poria cocos polysaccharide inhibits Porcine Deltacoronavirus replication in vitro through regulating apoptosis by PI3K-Akt/NF-κB signaling pathway.

Abstract

Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) is coronavirus mainly causing piglets diarrhea and posing potential cross-species transmission risk, the development of novel anti-PDCoV drugs is critically important. Poria cocos polysaccharide (PCP) has been proved to pose antiviral bioactivity, but its inhibitory effect on PDCoV remains unclear. Here, the antiviral effect of PCP on PDCoV was systematically evaluated and the potential mechanism was further explored. The PCP structure was first analyzed by using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), zeta potential detection, and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) morphology analysis. Antiviral results showed PCP could significant inhibit PDCoV on attachment stage and replication stage. Network pharmacology combined with transcriptomic analysis and verification indicated that PCP could significantly inhibit the activation of PI3K-AKT/Nf-κB pathway induced by PDCoV, alleviating PDCoV-induced cell apoptosis. Additionally, PCP showed broad-spectrum antiviral effect against Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) and Transmissible Gastroenteritis Virus (TGEV) in vitro. Taken together, we report here for the first time the antiviral effects of PCP against PDCoV and the potential antiviral mechanism of regulating PI3K Akt/NF- κB pathway to affect apoptosis, our findings will contribute to the development of polysaccharides based antiviral drugs against PDCoV and other porcine coronaviruses.