Abstract
BackgroundCigarette smoke contains free radicals and an have adverse effect to the immune system. Supplementation of palm oil vitamin E (palmvitee), is known has antioxidant properties is thought to be beneficial for system immune protection against free radicals activity. The objective of the study was to determine the effect of palmvitee supplementation on immune response in smokers.MethodsThis study involved a group of smokers and nonsmokers who received 200 mg/day palmvitee and placebo for the control group. Blood samples were taken at 0, 12 and 24 weeks of supplementation. Plasma tocopherol and tocotrienol were determined by HPLC, lymphocyte proliferation by lymphocyte transformation test (LTT) and enumeration of lymphocytes T and B cells by flow cytometry. Statistical analysis was performed by Mann–Whitney U-test for non-parametric data distribution and correlation among the variables was examined by Spearman.ResultsPlasma tocopherol and tocotrienol were increased in vitamin E supplemented group as compared to placebo group. Urine cotinine levels and serum α1-antitrypsin were significantly higher in smokers compared to nonsmokers. Lymphocyte proliferation induced by PHA showed an increasing trend with palmvitee supplementation in both smokers and nonsmokers. Natural killer cells were decreased; CD4+ cells and B cells were increased in smokers compared to nonsmokers but were unaffected with vitamin E supplementation except in the percentage of B cells which were increased in nonsmokers supplemented palmvitee compared to placebo. CD4+/CD8+ ratio was increased in smokers compared to nonsmokers. The high TWBC count observed in smokers correlated with the increased CD4+ and B cells.ConclusionsSmoking caused alterations in certain immune parameters and palmvitee supplementation tended to cause an increase in lymphocytes transformation test but had no effect on CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, NK cells and B cells except B cells percentage in nonsmokers.
Highlights
Cigarette smoke contains free radicals and an have adverse effect to the immune system
Plasma total vitamin E level There was no difference in total plasma vitamin E, tocopherol and tocotrienol levels in smokers and nonsmokers at ug/ml ns-palmvitee s-placebo s-palmvitee
In conclusions, cigarette smoking is associated with an increase in CD4+ cell, B cells and a decrease in CD8+ and Natural killer (NK) cells
Summary
Cigarette smoke contains free radicals and an have adverse effect to the immune system. The objective of the study was to determine the effect of palmvitee supplementation on immune response in smokers. Studies have reported that cigarette smoking cause impairment of the immune function resulting in diseases such as chronic obstructive lung disease, cardiovascular disease and cancers [1,2]. Studies on proliferative response of human lymphocytes to phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and LPS was reported decreased [14] and increased [3] in cigarette smoking. B lymphocyte proliferation induced by LPS was inhibited by cigarette smoke exposure in mice might be cause by the increased superoxide and hydrogen peroxide generation of cigarette smoke [16]. Many studies reported the harmful effect of smoking, mechanism to overcome this problem is still not yet confirm
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