Journal of Microbiology

Research article

Berberine promotes host lipolysis to enhance antimicrobial defense against hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae infection: Ju Yeong Lee, Hui-Jung Jung, Anwesha Ash, Seunghyeon Jeon, Miri Hyun, Ji Yeon Lee, Sang-Hee Lee, Hyuk Nam Kwon, Won-Ki Baek, Jichan Jang, Hyun ah Kim, Jin Kyung Kim; J. Microbiol. 2026;64(8):e2605001. Published online August 31, 2026; DOI: https://doi.org/10.71150/jm.2605001

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Abstract PDF Supplementary Material: Hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae (hvKp) is an emerging pathogen that causes severe community-acquired infections; however, the immune mechanisms controlling intracellular hvKp have yet to be clearly defined. In this study, we investigated the therapeutic potential of berberine against hvKp infection and elucidated the underlying molecular mechanisms using macrophage cell models and in vivo zebrafish models. Berberine significantly reduced intracellular hvKp survival in macrophages and improved survival in hvKp-infected zebrafish. Berberine markedly attenuated proinflammatory cytokine production and inhibited the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling pathways. Notably, we found that hvKp exploited host lipid droplets (LD) biosynthesis to support its intracellular survival, and berberine effectively suppressed LD accumulation. Mechanistically, berberine promoted the nuclear translocation of transcription factor EB (TFEB), thereby enhancing lipolysis. Although berberine upregulated autophagy-related gene expression during hvKp infection, it did not induce lipophagy, the selective autophagic degradation of LD. Collectively, these findings indicate that berberine has potential as a therapeutic agent against hvKp infection by modulating host lipid metabolism to restrict bacterial intracellular survival.

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Berberine Inhibits HEp-2 Cell Invasion Induced by Chlamydophila pneumoniae Infection: Li Jun Zhang , Li Jun Zhang , Wei Quan , Bei Bei Wang , Bing Ling Shen , Teng Teng Zhang , Yi Kang; J. Microbiol. 2011;49(5):834-840. Published online November 9, 2011; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-011-1051-z

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This study investigated the inhibitory effects of berberine on Chlamydophila (Chlamydia) pneumoniae infection-induced HEp-2 cell invasion and explored the possible mechanisms involved in this process. C. pneumoniae infection resulted in a significant increase in HEp-2 cell invasion when compared with the control cells (P<0.01) in a Matrigel invasion assay. This enhanced cell invasion was strongly suppressed by berberine (50 μM) (P<0.01). In a cell adhesion assay, the infection-induced HEp-2 cell adhesion to Matrigel was also significantly inhibited by berberine (P<0.01). C. pneumoniae infection was found to promote HEp-2 cell migration remarkably (P<0.01), which was markedly suppressed by berberine (P<0.01) in the cell migration assays. There were no statistically significant differences in the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) and MMP-9 in the infected cells and berberine did not change the expression of MMP-1 and MMP-9. These data suggest that berberine inhibits C. pneumoniae infection-induced HEp-2 cell invasion through suppressing HEp-2 cell adhesion and migration, but not through changing the expression of MMP-1 and MMP-9.

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