Matrine and icariin can inhibit bovine viral diarrhoea virus replication by promoting type I interferon response in vitro.

Introduction: Bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) can cause diarrhoea (BVD) in an animal herd, leading to heavy economic losses. There are limited drugs available for treating and controlling BVD. This research aims to investigate the antiviral and immunoregulatory effects of two traditional Chinese herb extracts against BVDV infection. The extracts are matrine and icariin, which have been proved to have immunostimulant and antiviral effects.

Material and methods: A cell counting kit-8 assay was used to analyse the toxicity of matrine and icariin to Madin-Darby bovine kidney (MDBK) cells. The model of MDBK cells infected with BVDV was utilised to uncover the antiviral mechanism of matrine and icariin, which along with their immunoregulatory ability was evaluated by quantitative reverse-transcription PCR and ELISA.

Results: The results showed that matrine and icariin can significantly inhibit the gene expression level of the BVDV 5' untranslated region through various pathways. Both matrine and icariin can statistically upregulate the gene expression level of interferon alpha, interferon beta (IFN-β), toll-like receptor 3, retinoic acid-inducible gene I and interferon regulatory factor 3, and raise the concentration of IFN-β after BVDV infection.

Conclusion: This study proves that both matrine and icariin have inhibitory effects on BVDV replication by activating IFN production and the IFN signalling pathway. The finding is promising and should open up the possibility of larger-scale in vitro research followed by in vivo experiments evaluating matrine and icariin as therapeutic agents in BVD cases.