Abstract
Many diseases occur when the immune system is weakened. Intracellular signals activate immuno-responsive cells to produce cytokines that modulate the immune response. Schisandra chinensis has been used traditionally to treat general fatigue, neurasthenia, and spontaneous sweating. In the present study, the effect of constituents of S. chinensis on cytokine release by human monocytic leukemia cells (THP-1) was tested using microparticle-based flow cytometric analysis. Two major lignans, schizandrin (Sch) and gomisin A (Gom A), were identified and shown to induce interleukin (IL)-8, macrophage inflammatory protein-1β (MIP-1β), and granulocyte-macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) release by THP-1 cells. By reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) or quantitative real-time PCR, there was a dose-dependent increase of IL-8, MIP-1β and GM-CSF mRNA levels. Thus, Sch and Gom A from S. chinensis enhance cytokine release by THP-1 cells and this effect occurs through mRNA upregulation. Upregulation of MIP-1β and GM-CSF in particular may have clinical applications. Therefore, S. chinensis may be therapeutically beneficial by promoting humoral and cell-mediated immune responses.
Highlights
The interaction of tumor cells and host immunity is increasingly well known to play a important role during the multiple stages of carcinogenesis and the strategy of endogenous immune systems to study effective anticancer therapeutics [1]
In the past S. chinensis has been used as an alternative medicine for the treatment of various liver diseases [16,17] and more recently as a dietary supplement [18,19]
The effect of LPS (10 ng/mL) and a 95% ethanolic extract of S. chinensis (M-4; 100 μg/mL) on the release of 17 immunoregulatory cytokines by THP-1 monocytes was evaluated by a fluid-phase immunoassay (BioRad Laboratories) run on a Bio-Plex Suspension Array System (Bio-Plex 100 System)
Summary
The interaction of tumor cells and host immunity is increasingly well known to play a important role during the multiple stages of carcinogenesis and the strategy of endogenous immune systems to study effective anticancer therapeutics [1]. Increased intracellular signaling activates immune responsive cells and enhances their production of cytokines, which, in turn, go on to modulate immune responses. Several reports have suggested that cytokines can be effectively used to treat cancer [4]. Cells of the monocyte/macrophage lineage play an important role in the immune response, these cells produce soluble factors such as cytokines and chemokines coordinate the immune response [5]. Macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-1 chemokines were reported to play the protective roles in cancer immunotherapy [7]. Detection of signaling intermediates or changes in cytokine levels are useful indicators to determine if a pharmacological agent has immuno-modulatory effects [8]
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