Virginia Via Research Day Book 2026

Medical Student Research Biomedical

18 INVESTIGATING DRAGON'S BLOOD RESIN AS A POTENTIAL ANTIVIRAL AND CYTOKINE-REGULATING AGENT AGAINST RSV IN HEP-2 CELLS

Sean Dalton OMS-II, BS; Jonas Lane, OMS-II, BS; Jackie Kronen, OMS-II, MA; James Mahaney, PhD; Teresa Johnson, PhD Corresponding author: sdalton@vcom.edu

Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine, Lynchburg, Virginia

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) remains a major cause of lower respiratory tract disease, particularly in infants, older adults, and premature infants with congenital heart and lung issues. Examples include babies born with a ventricular septal defect, Tetralogy of Fallot, and neonatal respiratory distress syndrome. A central feature of RSV pathology is the strong proinflammatory response generated by infected airway epithelial cells, which produce cytokines such as IL 6, IL-8, and TNF-α that contribute to airway edema, mucus production, and clinical symptom severity. IL-6 is a multifunctional cytokine that links inflammation with immune activation, rising quickly during infection or tissue injury to drive acute-phase responses and promote T- and B-cell differentiation. Identifying agents that can appropriately modulate these cytokine responses may reveal new strategies for mitigating RSV-associated inflammation, reducing disease symptoms and severity. Dragon’s Blood is a red, thick resin obtained from multiple trees in South America,

Southeast Asia, and East Africa. The tree species include Croton, Dracaena, Daemonorops, and Pterocarpus, and the sap has been used in traditional medicine for centuries, demonstrating antiviral, antibacterial, antioxidant, and immunomodulatory properties in prior studies. Previous work in the lab has shown the resin inhibits several viruses, including RSV, and influences cytokine production in epithelial cells. Despite these observations, the ability of Dragon’s Blood to alter the inflammatory profile generated during RSV infection in respiratory epithelial cells has not been examined. Understanding whether this resin can dampen excessive inflammation or enhance antiviral cytokine production may help clarify its potential role as an adjunctive therapeutic compound. This project aims to characterize how RSV infection alters cytokine expression in HEp-2 epithelial cells and determine whether treatment with Dragon’s Blood extract can attenuate these responses or interfere with viral replication. HEp-2 cells, a

well-defined human epithelial line commonly used for respiratory virus studies because of their permissiveness to RSV, will be infected under controlled multiplicities of infection. Following viral exposure, cells will be treated with serial dilutions of Dragon’s Blood extract at the time of infection. Outcomes will include evaluating cytokine responses, including IL-6, by semi-quantitative protein microarrays and quantitative enzyme immune assays in addition to examining direct antiviral effects by quantifying viral titers of infected cell cultures. We hypothesize that treatment with the resin will alter the cytokine profile induced by RSV either by altering proinflammatory mediators, enhancing antiviral interferon responses, or shifting the overall balance of epithelial signaling in a concentration-dependent manner.

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107 2026 Research Recognition Day