Regents NOB, NTD and HMF were provided by Ushio-Chemix Co. (Shizuoka, Japan). Ovalubumin (OVA) 323-339 peptide was synthesized by Sigma-Aldrich (MO, USA) and the purity was over 97%. 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) was obtained from Tokyo Chemical Ind. Co. Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan). Mice BALB/c mice (Japan SLC, Shizuoka, Japan) and DO11.10 mice on a BALB/c background (The Jackson Laboratory, ME, USA) were maintained under specific pathogenfree conditions with a 12-h light:dark cycle at 25 ± 2°C and 55 ± 10% relative humidity. The mice were given free access to water and food throughout the experiment. All studies were performed in accordance with the ethical guidelines for animal experimentation by the Institution of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Tokushima, Japan and were approved by the institution review board of the animal ethics committee. Proliferation Assay Splenocytes (5 x 10 5 cells/well) from DO.11.10 mice were treated with NOB, NTD or HMF for 24 h in 96-well flat-bottom plate and then further cultured with 5 µg/mL OVA 323-339 peptide for 48 h at 37°C in a total volume 100 μL. Twenty μL of MTT solution was added to the culture 4 h before the end of culture. Fifty μL of 10% SDS solution was added to the well and incubated overnight at 37°C. Absorbance at 550/630 nm was measured using a microplate reader. Cytokine Production Splenocytes (2.5×10 6 cells/well) from DO11.10 mice were pretreated with NOB, NTD or HMF in a 48-well flat-bottom plate at 37°C under 5% CO 2 for 24 h and then the cells were stimulated with 5 µg/mL OVA OVA 323-339 peptide for 48 h. After the culture, culture superna

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