Genomics and proteomics of immune modulatory effects of a butanol fraction of echinacea purpurea in human dendritic cells

Abstract

Background: Echinacea spp. extracts and the derived phytocompounds have been shown to induce specific immune cell activities and are popularly used as food supplements or nutraceuticals for immuno-modulatory functions. Dendritic cells (DCs), the most potent antigen presenting cells, play an important role in both innate and adaptive immunities. In this study, we investigated the specific and differential gene expression in human immature DCs (iDCs) in response to treatment with a butanol fraction containing defined bioactive phytocompounds extracted from stems and leaves of Echinacea purpurea, that we denoted [BF/S+L/Ep].

Potential of the Phytomedicine Echinacea in the Treatment of Pulmonary Infections and Bronchitis

“…In addition, these extracts can affect various signaling pathways of epithelial cells and inhibit the virus/bacterium-induced secretion of cytokines/chemokines and other inflammatory mediators that were responsible for the pulmonary symptoms. Since many signaling pathways can be affected by Echinacea in different cell types (Altamirano-Dimas et al, 2007;Wang et al, 2008), it is conceivable that the overall beneficial effects are due to a particular combination of compounds acting synergistically. Examples of synergism in herbal medicine have been described and in some cases validated experimentally (Spelman, 2006;Burns et al, 2009) and it is likely that certain Echinacea preparations also display synergism.…”

Neue Ansätze zur Wirkmusteraufklärung pflanzlicher Mehrstoffgemische

“…Wang et al [22] analysierten den Einfluss von Echinacea -Extrakten auf humane unreife dendritische Zellen (DCs), die aus mononukleären Zellen des peripheren Blutes isoliert worden sind. DCs sind antigenpräsentierende Zellen, die eine wichtige Rolle in der angeborenen und adaptiven Immunität spielen.…”

Immuno-Modulatory Effects of Phytomedicines Evaluated Using Omics Approaches

“…Genome-wide analysis has been adopted as a less selective approach for measuring the holistic or global changes in gene expression [17,[61][62][63][64]. It can be anticipated that the activation and functional maturation of DCs, as drastic cellular activities, are likely to be associated with changes in the levels of a spectrum of gene expressions that are responsible for: (a) intracellular metabolic processes; (b) control of cell motility (including those regulating intercellular communication and interactions with the tissue matrix); (c) cytokine and chemokine production, and (d) cell growth regulation and survival [17,61] …”

“…Functional genomics experimental approaches were employed in our previous studies on the modulatory effect of Echinacea plant extracts (e.g., the butanol-fractionated Leaf and Stem tissue extract designated as BF/S+L/Ep) on both mouse and human DCs [17,63,64]. Using the same defined phytochemical extracts in the study, we analyzed the genome-wide transcriptional response in the context of known functional activities and interrelationships among specific protein molecules and/or different cell phenotypes.…”