Journal: Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy
Article Title: Inducible CD147 up-regulation boosts extended SARS-CoV-2 infection triggering severe COVID-19 independent of ACE2
doi: 10.1038/s41392-025-02551-x
Figure Lengend Snippet: SARS-CoV-2-induced CD147 expression is regulated by transcription factor AHR. a The expressions of CD147 and ACE2 in BEAS-2B cells were determined by western blot. b The expressions of CD147, AHR, AHRR, and CYP1A1 in BEAS-2B cells were determined by western blot with SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus infection or RBD incubation. c The expression of CD147 was determined in BEAS-2B cells by western blot with the addition of AHR agonist 2 or AHR antagonist 5. d The relative luciferase signals in pseudovirus-infected BEAS-2B cells were determined by dual-luciferase reporter assays with the addition of AHR agonist 2 or AHR antagonist 5, *** p < 0.001. e The expression of CD147 in BEAS-2B-shCD147 cells and its control was determined by western blot. f The transfection efficiency of plasmid AHR was evaluated by western blot in BEAS-2B-shCD147 cells. g The relative luciferase signals were determined by dual-luciferase reporter assays in pseudovirus-infected BEAS-2B cells and BEAS-2B-shCD147 cells with or without the transfection of plasmid AHR, ns, not significant, *** p < 0.001. h The expression of CD147 was determined in AHR knockdown BEAS-2B cells by western blot. i The expression of CD147 was determined in pseudovirus-infected BEAS-2B cells by western blot with the addition of AHR antagonist 5. j Dual-luciferase reporter assays were performed after co-transfecting of the pGL3-Basic-CD147 promoter (−2000– − 1), pRL-TK, and plasmid AHR into HEK293T cells. The relative luciferase signal was detected using a Dual-Luciferase® Reporter Assay System, *** p < 0.001. k Nuclear and cytoplasmic protein extraction assays were performed to determine the nuclear expression and cytoplasmic expression of AHR in BEAS-2B cells with pseudovirus infection or RBD incubation. Lamin B1 and GAPDH were selected as controls for nuclear protein and cytoplasmic protein, respectively
Article Snippet: AHR agonist 2 (HY-144339, MCE) and AHR antagonist 5 (HY-141609, MCE) are potent agonist and inhibitor of AHR, respectively, which can regulate the transcription of AHR’s downstream genes by affecting its nuclear localization.
Techniques: Expressing, Western Blot, Infection, Incubation, Luciferase, Control, Transfection, Plasmid Preparation, Knockdown, Reporter Assay, Protein Extraction