title: Trichosanthin induced Th2 polarization status.
abstract: Trichosanthin is extracted from the root tuber of Chinese medicinal herb Trichosanthes kirilowii maximowicz (Tian Hua Fen). TCS has abortifacient, anti-tumor, anti-HIV and immunoregulatory functions. It has been proved that it could inhibit immune response and arouse a T helper 2 response in the draining lymph node. In the current study the effect of TCS on mouse splenocytes was investigated. We stimulated C57BL/6 mice with TCS both in vivo and in vitro and analyzed the change of type 1 and type 2 cytokines in mouse splenocytes. The results showed that TCS could induce the expression of IL-4, one of the major T helper 2 (Th2) cytokines, and inhibit the expression of IFN-gamma, an important Th1 cytokine in spleen lymphocytes both in vivo and in vitro. It is also shown the kinetics of Th1-to-Th2 transition after TCS stimulation in vivo in C57BL/6 mice. We found that type 2 cytokines, such as IL-10, TGF-beta and IL-4 were increased regularly but IFN-gamma was decreased at day 3 and then increased. However the mechanism for cytokine change is not clear.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, Anhui, China.
authors.forename: Shuying
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Yanyan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Haiming
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wei
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology; D002469:Cell Separation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005260:Female; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000276:immunology; D018417:Th1 Cells / Q000276:immunology; D018418:Th2 Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D015978:Trichosanthin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015854:Up-Regulation / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D015847:Interleukin-4; D015978:Trichosanthin; D007371:Interferon-gamma