Abstract
Ginseng extract has been shown to possess certain anti-virus, anti-tumor and immune-activating effects. However, the immunostimulatory effect of ginseng berry extract (GB) has been less well characterized. In this study, we investigated the effect of GB on the activation of mouse dendritic cells (DCs) in vitro and in vivo. GB treatment induced up-regulation of co-stimulatory molecules in bone marrow-derived DCs (BMDCs). Interestingly, GB induced a higher degree of co-stimulatory molecule up-regulation than ginseng root extract (GR) at the same concentrations. Moreover, in vivo administration of GB promoted up-regulation of CD86, MHC class I and MHC class II and production of IL-6, IL-12 and TNF-α in spleen DCs. GB also promoted the generation of Th1 and Tc1 cells. Furthermore, Toll like receptor 4 (TLR4) and myeloid differentiation primary response 88 (MyD88) signaling pathway were essential for DC activation induced by GB. In addition, GB strongly prompted the proliferation of ovalbumin (OVA)-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells. Finally, GB induced DC activation in tumor-bearing mice and the combination of OVA and GB treatment inhibited B16-OVA tumor cell growth in C57BL/6 mice. These results demonstrate that GB is a novel tumor therapeutic vaccine adjuvant by promoting DC and T cell activation.
Highlights
A recent effort in the development of new medication and immunomodulatory agents is to search for candidates among natural products, since they have relatively low toxicities in clinical applications [1]
After 24 hours of culture, we found that treatment with ginseng berries (GB) promoted the dendritic morphological changes in bone marrow-derived dendritic cell (DC) (BMDCs) (Fig 1A)
GB treatment showed a stronger effect on inducing BMDC activation than Ginseng root (GR), as indicated by higher levels of co-stimulatory molecule expression in the BMDCs (Fig 1B)
Summary
A recent effort in the development of new medication and immunomodulatory agents is to search for candidates among natural products, since they have relatively low toxicities in clinical applications [1]. Ginseng root (GR) has been used in Korean, Japan and China as a traditional medicine and has demonstrated efficacy against various human diseases, such as cancer, viral infectious diseases, diabetes, and atherosclerosis [2]. The reports from early studies showed that GR has strong immunostimulatory properties, such as modulating macrophage and dendritic cell (DC) activation, proliferation and viability of mouse spleen cells [3, 4]. Recent studies demonstrated that in addition to GR, ginseng berries (GB) and leaves have immunostimulatory effect [5,6,7]. In vivo immune activation effects of GB, especially.
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