爱普斯坦-巴尔病毒（EBV）是一种高度普遍的人类疱疹病毒，在成年人群体中95%以上的人终生携带。EBV通常建立一个无症状的终身感染，但也与主要影响B淋巴细胞和上皮细胞的恶性肿瘤有关。该病毒在潜伏期和溶解期之间交替发生，两者都有助于肿瘤进程的启动。目前，只有少量针对溶解期的抗病毒分子，其中大多数针对病毒复制。最近的研究提供了证据，表明EBV利用NLRP3炎症小体的组分进入其周期的生产期，以对各种刺激的激活做出反应。在本研究中，我们证明了舒克宁（shikonin），一种低毒性的天然分子，已知可抑制炎症小体，可以有效抑制EBV的重激活。与红花素（apigenin）和OLT 1177两种其他NLRP3炎症小体抑制剂获得了类似的结果。本文表明，舒克宁抑制了重激活引起的NLRP3的转录，从而抑制了炎症小体的激活和EBV的溶解期诱导。版权所有©2023。由Elsevier B.V.出版。

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a highly prevalent human herpesvirus that persists for life in more than 95% of the adult population. EBV usually establishes an asymptomatic life-long infection, but it is also associated with malignancies affecting B lymphocytes and epithelial cells mainly. The virus alternates between a latent phase and a lytic phase, both of which contribute to the initiation of the tumor process. So far, there is only a limited number of antiviral molecules against the lytic phase, most of them targeting viral replication. Recent studies provided evidence that EBV uses components of the NLRP3 inflammasome to enter the productive phase of its cycle following activation in response to various stimuli. In the present work, we demonstrate that shikonin, a natural molecule with low toxicity which is known to inhibit inflammasome, can efficiently repress EBV reactivation. Similar results were obtained with apigenin and OLT 1177, two other NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitors. It is shown herein that shikonin repressed the transcription of reactivation-induced NLRP3 thereby inhibiting inflammasome activation and EBV lytic phase induction.Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.