title: Immunostimulatory role of tryptic digest of Abrus agglutinin.
abstract: Many bioactive peptides are in therapeutic use as immunomodulators at present. The origin of these bioactive peptides is diverse. Such bioactive peptides are reported to be present in enzymatic digest of food and milk proteins. In our previous work we have reported that Abrus agglutinin retains its bioactivity even after heat denaturation but loses its haemagglutination properties. This leads to the supposition that immunostimulatory regions in the protein might be responsible for its in vivo and in vitro stimulatory properties. Thus the bioactivity of tryptic digest of Abrus agglutinin (TDA) was checked in vitro to ascertain the presence of some bioactive region in the protein, which will lead to the discovery of certain immunostimulatory peptides which might be of use in nonspecific immunotherapy. In this study it is observed that TDA stimulates macrophage increasing the phagocytic and bactericidal activity as well as hydrogen peroxide production. TDA also proliferates splenocytes leading to Th1 response and NK cell activation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tripathi
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.forename: Tapas K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Maiti
mesh_terms: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D016207:Cytokines / Q000096:biosynthesis; D006384:Hemagglutination; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide / Q000378:metabolism; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology; D008262:Macrophage Activation; D008264:Macrophages / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000096:biosynthesis; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000494:pharmacology*; D037121:Plant Lectins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects*; D013481:Superoxides / Q000378:metabolism; D014357:Trypsin
chemical_list: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic; D016207:Cytokines; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D037121:Plant Lectins; C016940:abrus agglutinin; D013481:Superoxides; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide; D014357:Trypsin