RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Naringenin Ameliorates Radiation-Induced Lung Injury by Lowering IL-1β Level JF Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics JO J Pharmacol Exp Ther FD American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics SP 341 OP 348 DO 10.1124/jpet.118.248807 VO 366 IS 2 A1 Chao Zhang A1 Wenfeng Zeng A1 Yi Yao A1 Bin Xu A1 Xiuli Wei A1 Luoyang Wang A1 Xiaozhe Yin A1 Apurba Kumar Barman A1 Fayun Zhang A1 Chunling Zhang A1 Qibin Song A1 Wei Liang YR 2018 UL http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/366/2/341.abstract AB Radiation-induced lung injury (RILI) is the main complication of radiotherapy for thoracic malignancies. Since naringenin, a potent immune-modulator, has been found to relieve bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis by restoring the balance of disordered cytokines, we sought to determine whether naringenin would mitigate RILI and to investigate the underlying mechanism. Animals received fractionated irradiation in the thoracic area to induce RILI. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and MILLIPLEX assays were used for serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid for cytokine analyses, hematoxylin and eosin staining for pathologic changes, and Masson trichrome staining for determination of lung fibrosis. Interleukin (IL)-1β was found significantly elevated after thoracic irradiation and it triggered production of profibrotic tumor growth factor β both in vivo and in vitro, suggesting the vital role of in IL-1β in the development of RILI. Furthermore, we found that naringenin was able to ameliorate RILI through downregulation of IL-1β and restoration of the homeostasis of inflammatory factors. Our results demonstrated that naringenin could serve as a potent immune-modulator to ameliorate RILI. More importantly, we suggest that a new complementary strategy of maintaining the homeostasis of inflammatory factors combined with radiation could improve the efficacy of thoracic radiotherapy.