Skip Navigation



International Immunology Advance Access published online on July 2, 2007
International Immunology, doi:10.1093/intimm/dxm061
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
19/7/891    most recent
dxm061v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Chan, W. K.
Right arrow Articles by Chan, G. C.-F.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Chan, W. K.
Right arrow Articles by Chan, G. C.-F.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Japanese Society for Immunology. 2007. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Response of human dendritic cells to different immunomodulatory polysaccharides derived from mushroom and barley

Wing Keung Chan1, Helen Ka Wai Law1, Zhi-Bin Lin2, Yu Lung Lau1 and Godfrey Chi-Fung Chan1

1 Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Hong Kong Jockey Club Clinical Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, 102 Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China
2 Department of Pharmacology, Peking University Health Science Center, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Beijing, China

Correspondence to: Correspondence to: G. C. Chan; E-mail: gcfchan{at}hkucc.hku.hk

Polysaccharides derived from fungi and plants have been increasingly used as dietary supplement with therapeutic intention for cancer. However, whether these polysaccharides from different sources and structures can elicit similar immunological effects remain unknown. This study aims to investigate and compare the effects of selected groups of purified and crude polysaccharides on human dendritic cells (DCs), the most potent antigen-presenting cells. The selected polysaccharides were from Ganoderma lucidum [(GL) Lingzhi, Reishi], a medicinal mushroom commonly used by oriental; and barley glucan, a purified polysaccharide with known in vivo immunomodulating effect. We found that purified polysaccharides from GL mycelium could induce human PBMC proliferation and phenotypic and functional maturation of DCs with significant IL-12 and IL-10 production. Polysaccharides of GL spore and barley were both rather weak immunostimulator in vitro. In general, all these polysaccharides did not polarize T cells into either Th1 or Th2 or regulatory T cells, except for crude spore polysaccharides-treated DCs which could suppress T cell proliferation with IL-10 production. This study revealed the polysaccharides of different sources have different immune potency and effect on human immune cells including DCs. Our study also provides a reproducible biological platform for comparing the potential therapeutic effects of different herbal-derived polysaccharides in the future.

Keywords: barley, Ganoderma lucidum, human dendritic cell, immunomodulation, polysaccharides

Transmitting editor: J. Allison


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
J. Duan, F. Y. Avci, and D. L. Kasper
Microbial carbohydrate depolymerization by antigen-presenting cells: Deamination prior to presentation by the MHCII pathway
PNAS, April 1, 2008; 105(13): 5183 - 5188.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.