title: Investigation of the Immunomodulatory effect of Berberis vulgaris on core-pulsed dendritic cell vaccine.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Virus-induced dendritic cells (DCs) functional deficiency leads to sub-optimal initiation of adaptive immune responses and consequently chronic infection establishment. The present study reports an advanced hepatitis C virus (HCV) therapeutic vaccine model based on In vivo enrichment of DCs with barberry ethanolic crude extract (BCE) then pulsing them with HCV core protein.
  
  
  METHODS
  DCs were enriched by BCE intravenous injection in BALB/c mice. Vaccine efficiency was assessed by flow cytometric analysis of splenocytes of immunized mice, cytokine profiling, cytotoxic T lymphocyte assay, and humoral immune response assessment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was no significant difference in surface phenotypic characterization of splenocytes from mice immunized with non-BCE-enriched-core-pulsed DCs (iDcs-core) compared to those from mice injected with RPMI-1640 medium. However, splenocytes from mice immunized with BCE-enriched-core-pulsed DCs showed 197 % increase in CD16+ population, 33 % increase in MHCII(+) population, and 43 % decrease in CD3(+) population. In iDCs-core group, 57.9 % greater anti-core cytotoxic T lymphocyte activity, up-regulation in interferon gamma and interleukin (IL) -12 expression, and down-regulation in IL-4 and IL-10 were recorded. Moreover, sustained specific anti-core antibodies were detected only in sera of the same group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  results indicate that BCE-enriched-core-transduced DCs may serve as a new model for immunotherapy of HCV chronic infection.
authors: Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
authors: Doaa A
authors: DA
authors: Ghareeb
authors: Center for Aging and Associated Diseases, Helmy Institute for Medical Sciences, Zewail City, Egypt.
authors: Eiman H
authors: EH
authors: Elwakeel
authors: Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
authors: Rowaida
authors: R
authors: Khalil
authors: Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt. minasaad@windowslive.com.
authors: Mina S
authors: MS
authors: Aziz
authors: Biomedical Technology, GEBRI, SRTA-city, Alexandria, Egypt.
authors: Maha A
authors: MA
authors: El Demellawy
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D028142:Berberis / Q000737:chemistry*; D016207:Cytokines / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D056724:Immunity, Humoral / Q000187:drug effects*; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D007155:Immunologic Factors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014761:Viral Hepatitis Vaccines / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D016207:Cytokines; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007155:Immunologic Factors; D010936:Plant Extracts; D014761:Viral Hepatitis Vaccines
keywords: Berberis vulgaris; IL 12; IL 4; INF-γ; Th-1