Genetic Expression Analysis of Immunostimulatory Botanicals on Human Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells Associated with Inflammatory Processes

Abstract

Many hundreds of botanicals have a place in complementary and alternative medicine for therapeutic use in antimicrobial, immunostimulatory, and “wound healing” activity. While there exists many centuries of anecdotal evidence on the activity and efficacy of these botanicals, limited scientific evidence exists on how these botanicals may be modulating the immune and inflammatory responses. Using microarray analysis, this study provides novel insight into putative genes which may be involved in the physiological responses following administration of botanical extracts. Using extracts from immunostimulatory herbs (Astragalus membranaceus, Sambucus cerulea, Andrographis paniculata) and an immunosuppressive herb (Urtica dioica), the data presented supports previous cytokine studies on these herbs as well as identifying additional genes which may be involved in immune cell activation and migration and various inflammatory responses, including wound healing, angiogenesis, and blood pressure modulation. The data presented provides a more extensive picture on how these herbs may be instigating their biological effects on the immune and inflammatory responses.