Effects of Japanese mistletoe lectin on cytokine gene expression in human colonic carcinoma cells and in the mouse intestine

Abstract

Mistletoe lectins have various biological activities including anti-cancer and immunomodulatory effects. We previously isolated a lectin (ML-J) from Japanese mistletoe. In the present study, we examined the effects of ML-J on cytokine gene expression in human colon adenocarcinoma Caco-2 cells and in the mouse intestine. The results of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction indicated that ML-J caused an upregulation of the gene expression of the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-8, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and IL-6 in Caco-2 cells and TNF-α and IL-6 in the duodenum. This study provides the first example to show that a perorally administered plant lectin affects gene expression in the duodenum.

Effects of Lens culinaris agglutinin on gene expression of gluconeogenic enzymes in the mouse intestine

“…Total RNA was extracted from the cells and tissues and mRNA was prepared using a QIAamp RNA Blood Mini Kit (Qiagen Ltd, Tokyo, Japan) according to the manufacturer's directions. To prevent possible contamination, samples were treated with deoxyribonuclease (RT grade; Wako Pure Chemical Industries Ltd.) as recommended by the manufacturer 11, 20…”

“…Although LCA has been shown to have no significant negative effect on nutritional performance in rats,10 the effects on intestinal gene expression have not been examined. Previously, we demonstrated that intragastrically administered Japanese mistletoe lectin changed the expression of various cytokine genes in the mouse duodenum,11 suggesting that food‐derived lectins may affect gene expression in vivo .…”

“…In the present study, we examined the effects of LCA on the gene expression of two gluconeogenic enzymes, glucose‐6‐phosphatase (G6Pase) and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) in the mouse duodenum and human colon cancer Caco‐2 cells. Our previous study has shown that these cells are a good cell culture model to examine the effects of Japanese mistletoe lectin on cytokine expression, which can be linked to those in experiments in vivo 11…”

Emerging roles of mistletoes in malignancy management

“…Monira et al (2009) examined the effect of lectin from V. album subsp. coloratum on cytokine gene expression in human colon adenocarcinoma Caco-2 cells and in the mouse intestine.…”

The role of nutraceutical proteins and peptides in apoptosis, angiogenesis, and metastasis of cancer cells

“…ACML was able to enhance antigen-specific activation and proliferation of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells as well as NK and γδT cells. Moreover, this lectin showed in vitro ability to alter cytokine gene expression in human colonic carcinoma [126] and IEC-6 rat intestinal epithelial cells [127]. Seifert et al [128] showed that mistletoe lectin was able to cause cytotoxicity to human acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells through activation of apoptosis.…”