Berberine alleviates hypersensitivity pneumonitis-like lung inflammation by restoring TFEB-dependent autophagic flux and neutrophil homeostasis.
Xie Weidong W, Deng Wei W, Zhang Jing J, Chang Shuai S et al.
Hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) is an immune-mediated interstitial lung disease caused by inhaled environmental antigens, and effective targeted therapies remain limited. Berberine (BBR) has established anti-inflammatory activity, but its role in HP is unclear. Here, we combined network pharmacology with experimental validation to investigate the therapeutic potential and mechanism of BBR in HP. We identified 38 overlapping targets between BBR and HP, with network analysis highlighting tumor necrosis factor (TNF), interleukin 1 beta (IL1β), interleukin 6 (IL6), B-cell lymphoma/leukemia-2 (BCL2) and caspase 3 (CASP3). Functional enrichment implicated TNF signaling, apoptosis and autophagy, suggesting that disruption of cellular homeostasis is central to HP progression and may be targeted by BBR. In a 1,3-β-glucan (β-glucan)-induced model of HP-like lung inflammation, BBR markedly reduced pulmonary inflammatory responses and increased autophagy-related protein expression in neutrophil-dominant lesions. In β-glucan-stimulated differentiated HL-60 cells, BBR attenuated inflammatory injury, limited apoptosis and preserved cellular function. Mechanistically, BBR restored defective autophagic flux by promoting transcription factor EB (TFEB) nuclear translocation, thereby improving neutrophil homeostasis and reducing inflammatory damage. These findings identify TFEB-dependent restoration of autophagic flux as a key mechanism underlying the protective effects of BBR in experimental HP-like lung inflammation and support BBR as a potential therapeutic candidate for HP.