At the time of the prevalence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), pulmonary fibrosis (PF) related to COVID-19 has become the main sequela. However, the mechanism of PF related to COVID (COVID-PF) is unknown. This study aimed to explore the key targets in the development of COVID-PF and the mechanism of d -limonene in the COVID-PF treatment. The differentially expressed genes of COVID-PF were downloaded from the GeneCards database, and their pathways were analyzed. d -Limonene was molecularly docked with related proteins to screen its pharmacological targets, and a rat lung fibrosis model was established to verify d -limonene’s effect on COVID-PF-related targets. The results showed that the imbalance between collagen breakdown and metabolism, inflammatory response, and angiogenesis are the core processes of COVID-PF; and PI3K/AKT signaling pathways are the key targets of the treatment of COVID-PF. The ability of d -limonene to protect against PF induced by bleomycin in rats was reported. The mechanism is related to the binding of PI3K and NF-κB p65, and the inhibition of PI3K/Akt/IKK-α/NF-κB p65 signaling pathway expression and phosphorylation. These results confirmed the relationship between the PI3K–Akt signaling pathway and COVID-PF, showing that d -limonene has a potential therapeutic value for COVID-PF.
【저자키워드】 Coronavirus disease 2019, Severe acute respiratory syndrome, D-limonene, coronavirus disease related pulmonary fibrosis, PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, 【초록키워드】 COVID-19, Treatment, coronavirus disease, pulmonary fibrosis, Angiogenesis, database, metabolism, COVID, Prevalence, Protein, therapeutic, Phosphorylation, pathway, target, Lung fibrosis, targets, collagen, signaling pathway, expression, mechanism, differentially expressed gene, binding, NF-κB, Inflammatory response, GeneCard, PI3K, pharmacological, PROTECT, analyzed, reported, p65, docked, downloaded, 【제목키워드】 pulmonary, monoterpene, Potential, p65,