title: Alleviation of cyclophosphamide-induced immunosuppression in Wistar rats by onion lectin (Allium cepa agglutinin).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In various traditional medicines, onion has been classified as an immune-boosting food. Recent studies have claimed this property due to the presence of bioactive organosulfur compounds, prebiotic fructo-oligosaccharides and an immunomodulatory protein, lectin (Allium cepa agglutinin; ACA) (Prasanna and Venkatesh, 2015. Characterization of onion lectin (Allium cepa agglutinin) as an immunomodulatory protein inducing Th1-type immune response in vitro. Int. Immunopharmacol. vol. 26, pp. 304-313).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to evaluate the immunoprotective properties of ACA in normal and cyclophosphamide (CP; 100μg/kg)-induced immunosuppressed Wistar rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  Wistar rats were administrated different doses of ACA (1, 10, and 100μg) to respective groups in normal as well as immunosuppressed animals. The effect of ACA on the status of immune organs was assessed by examining the splenic and thymic indices, and histopathological changes. The biomarkers for humoral immunity (serum IgG and IgA levels) and serum pro-inflammatory markers (COX-2, TNF-α and IL-10) were measured by ELISA.
  
  
  RESULTS
  ACA showed immunoprotective properties by significantly promoting the restoration of lymphoid cell count by ~6 fold vs. model control (immunosuppressed animals) and promotes the immune response significantly (~1.5-fold) in CP-induced immunosuppressed animals compared to model control; production of pro-inflammatory molecules (COX-2 and nitric oxide) and expression levels of immune regulatory molecule (TNF-α) were elevated in a dose-dependent manner.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The observed in vivo results suggest that ACA has the potential to be used as a nutritional therapeutic to boost the immune status of immunosuppressed subjects brought about by CP administration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition, CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysuru, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Vaddi P
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition, CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysuru, Karnataka, India. Electronic address: venkatyp@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Yeldur P
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Venkatesh
mesh_terms: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D051546:Cyclooxygenase 2 / Q000097:blood; D003520:Cyclophosphamide; D007070:Immunoglobulin A / Q000097:blood; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D019697:Onions; D009929:Organ Size / Q000187:drug effects; D037121:Plant Lectins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic; D007070:Immunoglobulin A; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D037121:Plant Lectins; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D016753:Interleukin-10; D003520:Cyclophosphamide; D051546:Cyclooxygenase 2; C489691:Ptgs2 protein, rat
keywords: Allium cepa agglutinin; Cyclophosphamide; Cyclophosphamide (PubChem CID: 2907); Immunostimulant; Immunosuppression; N-(1-naphthyl)-ethylenediamine dihydrochloride (PubChem CID: 15106); Nitric oxide (PubChem CID: 145068); Onion; Onion lectin; Sulfanilamide (PubChem CID: 5333); Zinc sulfate (PubChem CID: 24424)