Medicinal plants have long been used as an alternative to traditional drugs for the treatment of inflammatory conditions due to the classical side effects and restricted access of various commercially available drugs, such as steroids (GCs) and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Sambucus australis is a Brazilian herb that is commonly used to treat inflammatory diseases; however, few studies have examined the use of this species in the treatment of inflammatory conditions. The present study aims to evaluate the potential anti-inflammatory activity of S. australis in vitro. We established spleen cell cultures stimulated with pokeweed mitogen (PWM) to evaluate the production of proinflammatory cytokines, such as Il-4, Il-5, IFN-y, and Il-10 (by elISA), and the expression of the transcription factor NF-kB (by RT-PCR). In addition, we evaluated the levels of nitric oxide in macrophage cultures and the membranestabilizing activity of S. australis methanolic extract (eMSA). Treatment with eMSA at concentrations of 100, 50, 25 and 12.5 µg/ml significantly decreased IL-4 (p<0.001) and IL-5 (p<0.001) levels. Treatment with 100 µg/ml EMSA reduced IFN-у (p<0.001) levels. Moreover, at 100 mg/ml, EMSA also increased IL-10 production and reduced NF-kB expression (p<0.01). In macrophage cultures stimulated with LPS, EMSA decreased nitric oxide levels (p<0.001) at all concentrations tested (100, 50, 25 and 12.5 µg/ ml). Additionally, EMSA had a protective effect in the erythrocyte membrane stabilization assay. Taken together, these results suggest that S. australis has anti-inflammatory potential in vitro, characterized by the reduction of both inflammatory cytokines and the expression of NF-kB along with the up-regulation of Il-10.

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RATIONALE: Asthma and atopy are considered complex diseases linked the environmental and genetic factors. The OXA1L is involved in the biogenesis of proteins from mitochondria membrane. Changes in oxidative stress and calcium homeostasis in bronchial smooth muscle cells increase mitochondrial biogenesis, cell proliferation, and remodeling of the airways. Thus, we hypothesize that genetic variants in OXA1L are associated with asthma and atopy in an admixture population from Brazil. METHODS: DNA from 1,307 individuals was genotyped using Illumina Human 2.5-8 Omni Bead chip. Logistic regression analyses were performed to verify the association of polymorphisms in OXA1L with asthma and allergy markers using PLINK 1.9 software adjusted for sex, age, helminth infections and ancestry markers in additive model. In silico gene expression analysis was performed in whole blood tissue using GTEx browser. RESULTS: The C allele of rs4981436 in OXA1L was positively associated with asthma (OR:1.41; CI:1.08-1.84; p:.012). Additionally, the G allele of rs8572 was positively associated with skin prick test to Dermatophagoides

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