title: Suppressive effect of dietary raffinose on T-helper 2 cell-mediated immunity.
abstract: The effects of the dietary oligosaccharide raffinose on immune responses, with special reference to its anti-allergic functions, were examined in vivo. First, feeding a diet supplemented with 50 g raffinose/kg to BALB/c mice significantly (P<0.05) increased interleukin (IL) 12 secretion from isolated Peyer's patch (PP) cells in vitro compared with feeding control diet. When isolated PP cells were used as antigen-presenting cells (APC) for CD4+ T-splenocytes isolated from ovalbumin (OVA)-specific T-cell receptor transgenic (Tg) mice in the presence of OVA as antigen, significantly (P<0.05) higher levels of interferon-gamma were observed in the cultures using APC from raffinose-fed mice than those cultures using APC from control mice. Second, the diet containing 50 g raffinose/kg or control diet was fed to OVA Tg mice, and subsequently, OVA was added to each diet to prime T cells in vivo. CD4+ T-cells from the mesenteric lymph nodes of the raffinose-fed mice secreted significantly (P<0.05) higher levels of IL-2 and significantly (P<0.05) lower levels of IL-4 following in vitro antigenic stimulation compared with those of the control mice. These present results suggest that feeding raffinose may suppress differentiation of naïve T-helper (Th) cells into Th2 cells in the mesenteric lymphoid nodes. Last, feeding raffinose suppressed rises of serum immunoglobulin E levels in the Tg mice treated with long-term ingestion of OVA. In conclusion, it is suggested that dietary raffinose suppresses serum immunoglobulin E response through suppression of Th2-type immune response against oral antigen in the lymphoid organs located in or near the intestine.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004306:Dose-Response Relationship, Immunologic; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000276:immunology*; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000276:immunology; D018664:Interleukin-12 / Q000378:metabolism; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000378:metabolism; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000378:metabolism; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000378:metabolism; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D023421:Models, Animal; D010047:Ovalbumin; D010581:Peyer's Patches / Q000378:metabolism; D011887:Raffinose / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / Q000378:metabolism; D018418:Th2 Cells / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D007376:Interleukin-2; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell; D018664:Interleukin-12; D015847:Interleukin-4; D007073:Immunoglobulin E; D010047:Ovalbumin; D011887:Raffinose