Transcriptome Analysis Reveals the Immunoregulatory Activity of Rice Seed-Derived Peptide PEP1 on Dendritic Cells
Tingmin Qu,
Shuwen He,
Ying Wu,
Yingying Wang,
Ce Ni,
Shiyu Wen,
Bo Cui,
Yunhui Cheng,
Li Wen
Affiliations
Tingmin Qu
School of Food Science and Bioengineering, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Cytochemistry, Changsha University of Science & Technology, Changsha 410114, China
Shuwen He
School of Food Science and Bioengineering, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Cytochemistry, Changsha University of Science & Technology, Changsha 410114, China
Ying Wu
School of Food Science and Bioengineering, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Cytochemistry, Changsha University of Science & Technology, Changsha 410114, China
Yingying Wang
School of Food Science and Bioengineering, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Cytochemistry, Changsha University of Science & Technology, Changsha 410114, China
Ce Ni
School of Food Science and Bioengineering, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Cytochemistry, Changsha University of Science & Technology, Changsha 410114, China
Shiyu Wen
School of Food Science and Bioengineering, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Cytochemistry, Changsha University of Science & Technology, Changsha 410114, China
Bo Cui
School of Food Science and Engineering, Qilu University of Technology, Jinan 250353, China
Yunhui Cheng
School of Food Science and Bioengineering, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Cytochemistry, Changsha University of Science & Technology, Changsha 410114, China
Li Wen
School of Food Science and Bioengineering, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Cytochemistry, Changsha University of Science & Technology, Changsha 410114, China
Some food-derived bioactive peptides exhibit prominent immunoregulatory activity. We previously demonstrated that the rice-derived PEP1 peptide, GIAASPFLQSAAFQLR, has strong immunological activity. However, the mechanism of this action is still unclear. In the present study, full-length transcripts of mouse dendritic cells (DC2.4) treated with PEP1 were sequenced using the PacBio sequencing platform, and the transcriptomes were compared via RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq). The characteristic markers of mature DCs, the cluster of differentiation CD86, and the major histocompatibility complex (MHC-II), were significantly upregulated after the PEP1 treatment. The molecular docking suggested that hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions played important roles in the binding between PEP1, MHC-II, and the T-cell receptor (TCR). In addition, the PEP1 peptide increased the release of anti-inflammatory factors (interleukin-4 and interleukin-10) and decreased the release of pro-inflammatory factors (interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α). Furthermore, the RNA-seq results showed the expression of genes involved in several signaling pathways, such as the NF-κB, MAPK, JAK-STAT, and TGF-β pathways, were regulated by the PEP1 treatment, and the changes confirmed the immunomodulatory effect of PEP1 on DC2.4 cells. This findings revealed that the PEP1 peptide, derived from the byproduct of rice processing, is a potential natural immunoregulatory alternative for the treatment of inflammation.
