title: Aqueous extract of Caesalpinia sappan decelerates allograft rejection by inducing imbalance between CD4(+) CD25(+) T cells and Th17 cells.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Aqueous extract of Caesalpinia sappan (CSE) has immunosuppressive activities, but the mechanism remains unknown. This study was to investigate the effect of CSE on the balance between CD4(+) CD25(+) T cells and Th17 cells.
  
  
  METHODS
  Allografted Balb/c recipients were intraperitoneally treated with CSE for 14 continuous days, and the graft survival was observed. The spleen cells and peripheral blood of the recipient mice were harvested for phenotyping by flow cytometry, detection of gene expression by real-time PCR and cytokine detection by ELISA.
  
  
  RESULTS
  CSE prolonged skin allograft survival, increased the percentage and number of CD4(+) CD25(+) T cells, the expression of Foxp3 and STAT5 in spleen cells, the serum levels of IL-10 and TGF-β1, whereas reduced the percentage and number of Th17 cells and serum IL-17 level in Balb/c recipients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CSE expanded CD4(+) CD25(+) T cells and decreased Th17 cells in vivo thereby improving skin allograft survival in mice, indicating that CSE affects the balance between CD4(+) CD25(+) T cells and Th17 cells in the graft to induce rejection.
authors.affiliation: Provincial Key Discipline of Medical Immunology, Jining Medical University Jining 272067, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Chunxia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Provincial Key Discipline of Medical Immunology, Jining Medical University Jining 272067, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: The Affiliated Hospital of Jining Medical University & Jining No. 1 People's Hospital Jining 272011, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Dongqin
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Provincial Key Discipline of Medical Immunology, Jining Medical University Jining 272067, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Qun
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Provincial Key Discipline of Medical Immunology, Jining Medical University Jining 272067, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Zhihua
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Provincial Key Discipline of Medical Immunology, Jining Medical University Jining 272067, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital of Shizhong District Jining 272100, China.
authors.forename: Mingyan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Provincial Key Discipline of Medical Immunology, Jining Medical University Jining 272067, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Chuanping
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Si
keywords: Caesalpinia sappan; T-lymphocytes; Th17 cells; cytokines; regulatory T cells; skin allograft transplant