• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.69-79
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• 2009

Objective: In this study, the immunomodulatory activity of a mixture of wild Panax ginseng and red-mold rice extracts (MPR) on RAW 264.7 macrophage cells in the presence and absence of methotrexate (MTX), an anti-cancer drug, was investigated. Methods and Results: In the cell viability, MPR showed a significant cell proliferation and inhibited cell regression by red-mold rice (RMR) alone or MTX alone. MPR induced moderate increase in nitric oxide (NO) production. NO production and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) mRNA expression by LPS decreased after MPR treatment. In addition, MPR slightly induced COX-2 mRNA expression, but it did not affect the expression of COX-2 mRNA by LPS treatment. In RT-PCR analyses, MPR induced IL-$1{\alpha}$, IL-$1{\beta}$, IL-6, and TNF-$\alpha$ mRNA expression, but had no effect on IL-10 and TGF-$\beta$, regardless of MTX treatment. Furthermore, MPR did not interfere with the cytotoxicity of MTX against MCF-7 human breast carcinoma cells. Conclusions: MPR is efficacious in protecting against MTX-induced cell regression as a result of macrophage activation, resulting in induction of cytokine expression, implying that MPR could be considered an adjuvant in MTX-chemotherapy.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.183-187
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• 2016

The effects of antlers have long been known in traditional Asian medicine. However, few studies have investigated the effects of antlers on immunity. In this study, we investigated whether fermented antler extract (FAE) has immunomodulatory effects on spleen cells. FAE enhanced the activity of spleen cells in a concentration dependent manner compared to antler extract. Interestingly, FAE significantly increased the production of interleukin-12, a representative cytokine of cell-mediated immunity, while it marginally increased that of tumor necrosis factor-alpha. Flow cytometry analysis demonstrated that FAE can protect spleen cells from spontaneous cell death without a significant proportional change in subsets, mainly lymphocytes. Taken together, the results of the present study showed that FAE has beneficial effects on spleen cells, a major type of immune cell, indicating that it can function as an immunomodulator without significant cytotoxicity. These data may broaden the use of FAE in basic research and clinical areas.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.63-68
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• 2004

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of Sabaek-San(SBS) on the activity of immune cell and leukemia cell. The addition of SBS(1 ㎍/㎖) enhanced the proliferation of cultured-splenocytes and thymocytes. And also, administration of SBS(250, 500 mg/kg) accelerated subpopulation of splenic T lymphocytes in BALB/c mice. Administration of SBS eminently enhanced the production of IFN-γ, and IL-4. The treatment of high dose of SBS inhibit the proliferation of Jurkat cells and dose-dependently increased the apoptosis of cultured-Jurkat leukemia cells. These results suggest that SBS have a cell mediated immuno-regulatory effect.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 2012

Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG(ATCC 53103) is one of the best researched probiotic strains in the world. Studies in children have shown that Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG effectively prevents early atopic disease in patients with high risk. The active molecules associated with the immunostimulatory sequence and anti-allergy effects of L. rhamnosus GG have not yet been identified. Unmethylated CpG motifs in bacterial DNA have a mitogenic effect in mouse immune cells, CpG-containing ISS oligodeoxynucleotides are potent Th1 adjuvants, effective in both preventing and reversing Th2-biased immune deviation in allergy models. The genomic DNA of L. rhamnosus GG is a potent inducer of murine B cell and dendritic cell immunoactivation. In L. rhamnosus GG genomic DNA, ID35 shows high activity in ISS assays in both mice and humans. The effects of ID35 result from a unique TTTCGTT motif located at its 5'-end, and its effects are comparable with murine prototype CpG 1826. L. rhamnosus GG is known to secrete proteinaceous pili encoded by the spaCBA gene cluster. The presence of pili structures may be essential for its adhesion to human intestinal mucus, explaining the prolonged duration of intestinal residence of this bacterium, compared to that of non-piliated lactobacilli.

• BMB Reports
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.269-274
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• 2017

The biological activities of macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) might be mediated through a classical receptor-mediated or non-classical endocytic pathway. JAB1 (C-Jun activation domain-binding protein-1) promotes the degradation of the tumor suppressor, p53, and the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, p27. When MIF and JAB1 are bound to each other in various intracellular sites, MIF inhibits the positive regulatory effects of JAB1 on the activity of AP-1. The intestinal parasite, Anisakis simplex, has an immunomodulatory effect. The molecular mechanism of action of As-MIF and human JAB1 are poorly understood. In this study, As-MIF and hJAB1 were expressed and purified with high solubility. The structure of As-MIF and hJAB1 interaction was modeled by homology modeling based on the structure of Ace-MIF. This study provides evidence indicating that the MIF domain of As-MIF interacts directly with the MPN domain of hJAB1, and four structure-based mutants of As-MIF and hJAB1 disrupt the As-MIF-hJAB1 interaction.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.382-387
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• 1998

Platycodon radix is a dried root of Platycodon grandiflorum (P. grandiflorum) A. DC, a perennial grown on the hills and fields in Korea and Japan, or cultivated in various districts. Recently, P. grandiflorum (Changkil) has been successfully cultivated for more than 20 years and generally has been employed as folk remedy for adult diseases such as hyperlipidemia, hypertension and diabetes. We investigated various biological activities of the extracts from Changkil. When treated in vitro with B16-F1 mouse melanoma cell lines, it showed 100% laminin-binding inhibitory activities at the concentration over 0.125mg/ml. In in vivo test it showed 61.5% reduction of the solid tumor weight transplanted in mice and exhibited anticancer activity of 128% ILS against Sarcoma-180 ascites. It also increased the ratio of positive cells of natural killer cells in lymphocytic composition against Sarcoma-18O ascites and solid tumor transplanted in ICR mice when tests were carried out by FACScan method.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.344-348
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• 2005

Fucoidans, high-molecular-weight sulfated polysaccharides extracted from brown seaweeds, have various biological activities. Here we examined whether fucoidan could ncrease the immunomodulation and proliferation capacity of cells in vitro. When peritoneal macrophages were treated with various concentrations of fucoidan $(1\~100{\mu}g/mL)$ for 24 hours, NO production was significantly increased. In addition, exposure of macrophages to $10{\mu}g/mL$ of fucoidan induced a phagocytic activity. Treatment of neuroblastoma cells (SK-N-SH) with fucoidan enhanced cell proliferation and NO production in a concentration-dependent manner. These results indicate that fucoidan has both immunomodulatory and cell proliferative properties, and may thus be a candidate for development as an immunomodulating agent.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.1-17
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• 2020

Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are immature myeloid cells that exert suppressive function on the immune response. MDSCs expand in tumor-bearing hosts or in the tumor microenvironment and suppress T cell responses via various mechanisms, whereas a reduction in their activities has been observed in autoimmune diseases or infections. It has been reported that the symptoms of various diseases, including malignant tumors, can be alleviated by targeting MDSCs. Moreover, MDSCs can contribute to patient resistance to therapy using immune checkpoint inhibitors. In line with these therapeutic approaches, diverse oligonucleotide-based molecules and small molecules have been evaluated for their therapeutic efficacy in several disease models via the modulation of MDSC activity. In the current review, MDSC-targeting oligonucleotides and small molecules are briefly summarized, and we highlight the immunomodulatory effects on MDSCs in a variety of disease models and the application of MDSC-targeting molecules for immuno-oncologic therapy.

• CELLMED
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.5.1-5.9
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• 2019

The therapeutic use of the wormwood plant Artemisia absinthium L. dates back to at least Roman times. There are more than 200 plants in the genus Artemisia- including southern wormwood, petite wormwood and Grande wormwood and encompasses about 500 species. The best-known species of wormwood is Artemisia absinthium, native to temperate Eurasia and North Africa and is branded for its extreme bitterness. It is a magical greens booze used as carminative to support healthy appetite, balances healthy flora, cleanse the digestive tract of parasite and toxins. It possesses anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, hepatoprotective, anti-helminthic and anti-depressant activity. Thujone excites nervous system when taken in small amount. Due to contrary history of wormwood, its application in individuals should be preceded by a thorough and cautious risk-benefit analysis. In this appraisal an attempt is done to validate scientifically, mentioned therapeutic potential of Artemisia absinthium in classical Unani literature using PubMed, Science Direct researches.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.335-341
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• 2021

Zinc is an essential micronutrient with crucial roles in multiple facets of biological processes. Dysregulated zinc homeostasis impairs overall immune function and resultantly increases susceptibility to infection. Clinically, zinc supplementation is practiced for treatment of several infectious diseases, such as diarrhea and malaria. Recent focus on zinc as a beneficial element for immune system support has resulted in investigation of the immunomodulatory roles of zinc in a variety of immune cells. Besides its classical role as a cofactor that regulates the structural function of thousands of proteins, accumulating evidence suggests that zinc also acts, in a manner similar to calcium, as an ionic regulator of immune responses via participation as an intracellular messenger in signaling pathways. In this review, we focus on the role of zinc as a signaling molecule in major pathways such as those downstream of Toll-like receptors-, T cell receptor-, and cytokine-mediated signal transduction that regulate the activity and function of monocytes/macrophages and T cells, principal players in the innate and adaptive immune systems.