RESEARCH ARTICLE Parthenium hysterophorus mediated inflammation and hyper-responsiveness via NF-κB pathway in human A549 lung cancer cell line Mandeep Kaur 1 | Kunj Bihari Gupta 2 | Shweta Thakur 3 | Sukhchain Kaur 2 | Monisha Dhiman 2 1 Department of Human Genetics and Molecular Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, India 2 Department of Microbiology, School of Basic and Applied Sciences, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, India 3 Department of Zoology, School of Basic and Applied Sciences, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, India Correspondence Monisha Dhiman, Department of Microbiology, School of Basic and Applied Sciences, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, 151 001, Punjab, India. Email: monisha.dhiman@cup.edu.in Funding information Central University of Punjab, Grant/Award Number: GP-25 Abstract Being one of the notorious weed P. hysterophorus has invaded almost every part India and is the lead cause of skin allergies and severe dermatitis among farmers and rural population. It is an invasive obnoxious weed capable of surviving extreme envi- ronmental conditions and various parts of this plant are reported to cause severe contact allergies in humans due to the presence of high concentrations of toxic ses- quiterpene lactones viz. parthenin. It can stimulate numerous cellular and immune responses that may translate into Oxidative stress, allergies, and inflammation. The effect of P. hysterophorus flower extract was evaluated on cell viability, oxidative stress and inflammation in A549 lung cancer cell line by spectrophotometric and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction methods. Schrodinger software based docking was performed for possible interactions studies. The A549 cells treated with P. hysterophorus flower extract favors increase in cell viability, reactive oxygen species generation. The mRNA expression of proinflammatory cytokines such as IFN-γ, TNF-α, and IL-1β was significantly increased whereas no change in IL-18 expression was observed. Significant increase in protein expression of NF-κB was observed, suggesting the role of NF-κB signalling in allergic responses. The docking studies demonstrated the potential interaction between Parthenin and NF-κB/IL-1β/ IL-18 suggesting their activation leading to inflammation. The current study empha- size that P. hysterophorus mediates oxidative stress, and inflammatory process via alterations in expression of proinflammatory cytokines such as IL-1β, IFN-γ through NF-κB activation which was also confirmed in docking studies. Cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in pathogenesis of allergic/chronic inflammation and severe dermatitis need to be further investigated to identify specific binding partners responsible for severe inflammation which can provide some leads in developing effective targets against severe dermatitis and skin allergies. KEYWORDS IL-1β, inflammation, NF-κB, Parthenium hysterophorus, ROS, TNF-α Mandeep Kaur, Kunj Bihari Gupta, and Shweta Thakur contributed equally to this study. Received: 4 March 2020 Revised: 31 May 2020 Accepted: 6 June 2020 DOI: 10.1002/tox.22989 Environmental Toxicology. 2020;1–10. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/tox © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC 1