title: Garlic (Allium sativum L.) modulates cytokine expression in lipopolysaccharide-activated human blood thereby inhibiting NF-kappaB activity.
abstract: Garlic is proposed to have immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory properties. This paper shows that garlic powder extracts (GPE) and single garlic metabolites modulate lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced cytokine levels in human whole blood. GPE-altered cytokine levels in human blood sample supernatants reduced nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB activity in human cells exposed to these samples. Pretreatment with GPE (100 mg/L) reduced LPS-induced production of proinflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-1beta from 15.7 +/- 5.1 to 6.2 +/- 1.2 micro g/L and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha from 8.8 +/- 2.4 to 3.9 +/- 0.8 micro g/L, respectively, whereas the expression of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 was unchanged. The garlic metabolite diallydisulfide (1-100 micro mol/L) also significantly reduced IL-1beta and TNF-alpha. Interestingly, exposure of human embryonic kidney cell line (HEK293) cells to GPE-treated blood sample supernatants (10 or 100 mg/L) reduced NF-kappaB activity compared with cells exposed to untreated blood supernatants as measured by a NF-kappaB-driven luciferase reporter gene assay. Blood samples treated with extract obtained from unfertilized garlic (100 mg/L) reduced NF-kappaB activity by 25%, whereas blood samples treated with sulfur-fertilized garlic extracts (100 mg/L) lowered NF-kappaB activity by 41%. In summary, garlic may indeed promote an anti-inflammatory environment by cytokine modulation in human blood that leads to an overall inhibition of NF-kappaB activity in the surrounding tissue.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Center of Drug Research, University of Munich, D-81377 Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Hans-Peter
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Keiss
authors.forename: Verena M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Dirsch
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hartung
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Haffner
authors.forename: Laurence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Trueman
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Auger
authors.forename: Rémi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kahane
authors.forename: Angelika M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Vollmar
mesh_terms: D002460:Cell Line; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood*; D005737:Garlic / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D016328:NF-kappa B / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors*; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; D013457:Sulfur Compounds / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D016328:NF-kappa B; D013457:Sulfur Compounds