Pro-inflammatory effects of a litchi protein extract in murine RAW264.7 macrophages.

Xiaoli Wang,Huiqing Yan,Zhaocheng Ma,Xiaorong Hu,Xiuxin Deng

doi:10.1038/hortres.2016.17

Xiaoli Wang, Huiqing Yan + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1038/hortres.2016.17

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Abstract

It has been observed that the consumption of litchi often causes symptoms characterized by itching or sore throat, gum swelling, oral cavity ulcers and even fever and inflammation, which significantly impair the quality of life of a large population. Using the RAW264.7 cell line, a step-by-step strategy was used to screen for the components in litchi fruits that elicited adverse reactions. The adverse reaction fractions were identified by mass spectrometry and analyzed using the SMART program, and a sequence alignment of the homologous proteins was performed. MTT tests were used to determine the cytotoxicity of a litchi protein extract in RAW264.7 macrophages, and real-time PCR was applied to analyze the expression of inflammatory genes in the RAW264.7 cells treated with lipopolysaccharide or the litchi protein extract. The results showed that the litchi water-soluble protein extract could increase the production of the pro-inflammatory mediators IL-1β, iNOS and COX-2, and the anti-inflammatory mediator HO-1 in the RAW264.7 cell line. The 14-3-3-like proteins GF14 lambda, GF14 omega and GF14 upsilon were likely the candidate proteins that caused the adverse effects.

Highlights

Adverse food reactions are a worldwide problem, with evidence of increasing prevalence in many countries.[1]
We found that pro-inflammatory substances of the ‘heating’ fruit satsuma consisted of specific proteins by performing a systematic screen of substances from satsuma fruit in the RAW264.7 murine macrophage cell line.[7]
A step-by-step strategy was used to isolate the pro-inflammatory compounds from litchi fruit, which were analyzed in the RAW

Summary

Introduction

Adverse food reactions are a worldwide problem, with evidence of increasing prevalence in many countries.[1] Adverse food reactions constitute a broad term representing any abnormal clinical response associated with the ingestion of a food. In China, a large population of people suffers from shang huo, which significantly impairs their quality of life. Shang huo (rising heat) is a popular medical concept originating in traditional Chinese medicine, and it is very common in Asia.[2] For 2000 years, Chinese and Indian people have believed that certain foods are either ‘heating’ or ‘cooling’ in the body when eaten.[3] Litchi, longan, mandarin orange, civet durian and peanut, among others, are considered ‘heating’ fruits, and over-consumption of these fruits (dose-dependent, some people only eat one fruit) can cause shang huo

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