ISSN 2756-3294
African Journal of Botany ISSN: 3519-3824 Vol. 7 (1), pp. 001-007, January, 2019. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Abundant CD4 Th-2 cytokine stimulation by medicinal plant Pongamia pinnata Linn. on human peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC)
M. Manikannan1, P. Durgadevi1, S. Subramaniyan2 and Elanchezhiyan Manickan1*
1Department of Microbiology, Dr. ALM. PG Institute of Basic Medical Science, University of Madras, Taramani, Chennai-600 113, India.
2Blood Bank, Voluntary Health Service (VHS), Adyar, Chennai-600 020, India.
Accepted 13 November, 2018
Abstract
Immune cells produce cytokines in response to various stimuli. The initial cytokine milieu at which immune cells interact have a positive impact on the outcome of the immune response generated. Modulations or polarizations of cytokines are known to affect the outcome of the disease. Immunotherapy is a novel approach to combat cytokine mediated diseases and several medicinal plants are shown to possess immune modulatory properties. One of the popular Indian medicinal plants known as Pongamia pinnata has been extensively studied for its bioactive properties. However, its immune modulatory property has not been studied yet. Therefore we broached on this study of the immune stimulation property of P. pinnata on healthy human peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC). P. pinnata extracts were prepared using various solvents and they were used to stimulate human PBMC. We noticed that P. pinnata extracts induced abundant IL-10 production. Our experimental results indicated that P. pinnata may be a strong inducer of Th-2 cytokines and could be used to treat Th-1 cytokine mediated pathology.
Key words: Immunotherapy, cytokines, Th-1, Th-2, Pongamia pinnata, peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC), ELISA.