The study of a dendritic cells-based standardized evaluation system for immunity-boosting functional foods

Abstract

Abstract Dendritic cells (DC) are specialized antigen-presenting cells that initiate and orchestrate the body’s immune response to bridge the innate and adaptive systems. Here we report developing a standardized evaluation system for immunity-boosting functional foodstuffs using bone marrow-derived dendritic cells. A DC-based evaluation system can indicate the type, magnitude, and specificity of immune responses elicited by an immune-boosting food item. We monitored the expression profile of DC maturation markers, including CD11b, CD11c, CD40, PD-L1/L2, CD80, CD86, and MHC, by flow cytometry to define immunity indexes. These indexes are then consolidated to a 4-point scale to describe the immunogenic and tolerogenic capabilities of the immunity-boosting food candidate. Among well-known immunoregulatory materials, red ginseng extracts, fucoidan, and polysaccharide-K were found to belong to the highest grade of immunogenicity, while extract of the Ostericum root was among the most tolerogenic foods. Extracts of Peucedanum japonicum Thunberg root and Psidium guajava L. leaves also showed high tolerogenic capabilities. Our results suggest that this assay is an effective method to characterize and screen the immune boosting effects of food and pharmaceutical materials in a standardized manner.