title: The immunostimulatory effect of bio-active peptide from pollen on murine and human lymphocytes.
abstract: The effects of bio-active peptide (BP) from buckwheat pollen and its synthetic analogues on murine and human lymphocytes and HL-60 cells were examined. Both natural and synthetic BP had the same effect in the lymphocyte blast transformation test. The proliferative response of HL-60 cells, co-cultured for 72 h with BP, was measured by the MTT method. BP had a stimulatory effect on HL-60 cell proliferation. The optical density (OD) value was 0.339+/-0.015, whereas, that of the control without BP was significantly lower (0.279+/-0.037; P < 0.05). The CD25 (IL-2Ralpha chain) positive cells of BP-stimulated human lymphocytes assessed by indirect immunofluorescence were 53.97+/-7.12% (1 microg/ml) and 42.53+/-4.4% (10 microg/ml), significantly higher than the control (11.77+/-1.88%; P < 0.001). The content of sIL-2R in the supernatant after culture with BP was determined by ELISA and was 1782.3+/-78.18 U/ml, lower than control 2381.2+/-99.9 U/ml. Taken together, our results showed that BP has an immunostimulatory effect on lymphocytes. The likely mode of BP action and the possibility of developing a novel immunomodulator are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Beijing Institute of Geriatrics, Beijing Hospital, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Song
mesh_terms: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D018920:Coculture Techniques; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D019612:Fagopyrum / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D018922:HL-60 Cells; D006801:Humans; D007114:Immunization; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D010455:Peptides / Q000276:immunology / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000276:immunology / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011058:Pollen / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D010455:Peptides; D010940:Plant Proteins