Defined Small Molecules Produced by Himalayan Medicinal Plants Display Immunomodulatory Properties

Abstract

Plant-derived compounds that modulate the immune responses are emerging as frontline treatment agents for cancer, infectious diseases and autoimmunity. Herein we have isolated 40 phytochemicals from five Bhutanese Sowa Rigpa medicinal plants—Aconitum laciniatum, Ajania nubegina, Corydalis crispa, Corydalis dubia and Pleurospermum amabile—and tested 14 purified compounds for their immunomodulatory properties using a murine dendritic cell (DC) line, and cytotoxicity against a human cholangiocyte cell line using xCELLigence real time cell monitoring. These compounds were: pseudaconitine, 14-veratryolpseudaconitine, 14-O-acetylneoline, linalool oxide acetate, (E)-spiroether, luteolin, luteolin-7-O-β-d-glucopyranoside, protopine, ochrobirine, scoulerine, capnoidine, isomyristicin, bergapten, and isoimperatorin. Of the 14 compounds tested here, scoulerine had adjuvant-like properties and strongly upregulated MHC-I gene and protein expression whereas bergapten displayed immunosuppressive properties and strongly down-regulated gene and protein expression of MHC-I and other co-stimulatory molecules. Both scoulerine and bergapten showed low cytotoxicity against normal healthy cells that were consistent with their immunoregulatory properties. These findings highlight the breadth of immunomodulatory properties of defined compounds from Bhutanese medicinal plants and show that some of these compounds exert their mechanisms of action by modulating DC activity.

Evaluation of in-vitro Immunomodulatory Activity and Thrombolytic Potential of Kabasura Kudineer (KSK): An Official Siddha Polyherbal Formulation

“…Kiran 23 have already reported the phytoconstituents of Siddha formulation KSK. These compounds have been detailed of their biological activities; some of them were found to have thrombolytic, immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, and fibrinolytic activity, for example, β-bisabolene, 48-51 piperine, [52][53][54] Squalene 55,56 Chebulagic acid, 57 Carvacrol, 58,59 Luteolin 60,61 Magnoflorine. [62][63][64] As per Siddha, stickiness, mucilaginous, rounded, little hard are listed as characters of Aiyam.…”

Synthesis, Spectroscopic Study and Radical Scavenging Activity of Kaempferol Derivatives: Enhanced Water Solubility and Antioxidant Activity

“…It is well known that flavonoids have many beneficial pharmacological and biological functions, such as antioxidant, anticoagulant, immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, etc. [ 41 , 46 ]. However, some types of flavonoids showed cytotoxicity against normal healthy cells.…”

“…However, some types of flavonoids showed cytotoxicity against normal healthy cells. Wangchuk et al [ 46 ] reported that luteolin exhibited considerable cytotoxicity on a human normal cholangiocyte cell line. Kae, quercetin and isoquercitrin showed hemolytic potential on human erythrocytes [ 47 ].…”

Separation and anti‐inflammatory evaluation of phytochemical constituents from Pleurospermum candollei (Apiaceae) by high‐speed countercurrent chromatography with continuous sample load

“…The traditional purification methods such as silica gel column chromatography [6, 12‐14], flash chromatography [15, 16], and GC/GC‐MS [6] have been reported for various Pleurospermum species. However, P. candollei has not been so far investigated for phytochemical investigation.…”