Heme Oxygenase-1 (HO-1) is a ubiquitously expressed enzyme which plays important functions in antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptosis. Recent studies have demonstrated that HO-1 also has significant antiviral properties, inhibiting the replication of some kinds of viruses such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and dengue fever virus (DFV). In this study, we evaluated the role of HO-1 in Duck Tembusu virus (DTMUV) replication in vitro. The results showed that, the mRNA expression level of HO-1 was transient up-regulated and then significantly decreased in duck embryo fibroblast (DEF) infected with DTMUV. HO-1 induction by transfection of HO-1 over-expression plasmid or treatment with cobalt protoporphyrin (CoPP), a potent HO-1 inducer, could inhibit DTMUV replication effectively. In contrast, HO-1 siRNA knockdown in DEF increased DTMUV replication, implied that HO-1 was an important cellular factor against DTMUV replication. Furthermore, we found that ferric ion (Fe³⁺) but not biliverdin and carbon monoxide, products of heme degradation by HO-1, mediated the HO-1-induced anti-DTMUV effect. Overall, these finding revealed that a drug induced the HO-1 signal pathway was a promising strategy for treating DTMUV infection.

血红素加氧酶-1（HO-1）是一种普遍表达的酶，在抗氧化剂，抗炎药和抗细胞凋亡中起重要作用。最近的研究表明，HO-1还具有显着的抗病毒特性，可以抑制某些病毒的复制，例如人类免疫缺陷病毒（HIV），丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）和登革热病毒（DFV）。在这项研究中，我们评估了HO-1在鸭Tembusu病毒（DTMUV）体外复制中的作用。结果表明，感染DTMUV的鸭胚成纤维细胞（DEF）中HO-1的mRNA表达水平被瞬时上调，然后显着下降。通过转染HO-1过表达质粒或用强力的HO-1诱导剂钴原卟啉（CoPP）处理可诱导HO-1有效抑制DTMUV复制。相比之下，DEF中HO-1 siRNA的敲低增加了DTMUV复制，这暗示HO-1是抵抗DTMUV复制的重要细胞因子。此外，我们发现，HO-1引起的血红素降解产物三价铁离子（Fe ³⁺）而不是联运肝素和一氧化碳介导了HO-1诱导的抗DTMUV效应。总体而言，这些发现表明，药物诱导的HO-1信号通路是治疗DTMUV感染的一种有前途的策略。