{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,18]],"date-time":"2026-08-18T04:34:16Z","timestamp":1787027656632,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,3]],"date-time":"2021-08-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1627948800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000002","name":"National Institutes of Health","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["DK107474"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["DK107474"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000002","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100014576","name":"Office of the President, University of California","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["R00RG2352"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R00RG2352"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100014576","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Biomolecules"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Vitamin C is well documented to have antiviral functions; however, there is limited information about its effect on airway epithelial cells\u2014the first cells to encounter infections. Here, we examined the effect of vitamin C on human bronchial epithelium transformed with Ad12-SV40 2B (BEAS-2B) cells, and observed that sodium-dependent vitamin C transporter 2 (SVCT2) was the primary vitamin C transporter. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that treating BEAS-2B cells with vitamin C led to a significant upregulation of several metabolic pathways and interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) along with a downregulation of pathways involved in lung injury and inflammation. Remarkably, vitamin C also enhanced the expression of the viral-sensing receptors retinoic acid-inducible gene 1 (RIG-1) and melanoma differentiation-associated protein 5 (MDA-5), which was confirmed at the protein and functional levels. In addition, the lungs of l-gulono-\u03b3-lactone oxidase knockout (GULO-KO) mice also displayed a marked decrease in these genes compared to wild-type controls. Collectively, our findings indicate that vitamin C acts at multiple levels to exert its antiviral and protective functions in the lungs.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/biom11081148","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,4]],"date-time":"2021-08-04T02:16:07Z","timestamp":1628043367000},"page":"1148","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":24,"title":["Vitamin C Enhances Antiviral Functions of Lung Epithelial Cells"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Trevor","family":"Teafatiller","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sudhanshu","family":"Agrawal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Basic and Clinical Immunology, Department of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gabriela","family":"De Robles","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Farah","family":"Rahmatpanah","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Veedamali S.","family":"Subramanian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3323-9152","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anshu","family":"Agrawal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Basic and Clinical Immunology, Department of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"480","DOI":"10.1016\/S0014-5793(99)01393-9","article-title":"Cloning and functional characterization of the human sodium-dependent vitamin C transporters hSVCT1 and hSVCT2","volume":"460","author":"Daruwala","year":"1999","journal-title":"FEBS Lett."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"762","DOI":"10.1006\/bbrc.1999.1272","article-title":"Human placental sodium-dependent vitamin C transporter (SVCT2): Molecular cloning and transport function","volume":"262","author":"Rajan","year":"1999","journal-title":"Biochem. 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