Abstract
The immune system defends the body from various pathogens. Occasionally immune mechanisms fail in responding to antigens or they respond to self-antigens leading to severe complications like hypersensitivity, autoimmune disorders, cancer and AIDS. These conditions necessitate the use of compounds capable of modifying the immune system called immunomodulators. A large number of synthetic compounds are currently used for augmenting the immune system causing variety of side effects. Using natural biomolecules which are benign and economical can lead to safe immunomodulation. Application of plant metabolites for activating or suppressing the immune system is currently a fascinating area of research. This rational approach of immunomodulation has led to the discovery of many phytocompounds from known medicinal plants. Berberine, leonurine, piperine, gelselegine, chelerythrine and pseudo coptisine are some immunomodulatory agents derived from plants. Exploring plants with the use of innovative techniques will increase the choice of immunomodulators.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agarwal SS, Singh VK (1999) Medicinal plants; immunomodulators review of studies on Indian medicinal plants and synthetic peptides. Proc Indian Natl Sci Acad B65:179–204
Agarwal SS, Khadase SC, Talele GS (2010) Studies on immunomodulatory activity of Capparis zeylanica leaf extracts. Int J Pharm Sci Nanotechnol 3(1):887–892
Amirghofran Z, Azadbakht M, Karimi MH (2000) Evaluation of the immunomodulatory effects of five herbal plants. J Ethnopharmacol 72(1–2):167–172
Antony S, Kuttan R, Kuttan G (1999) Immunomodulatory activity of Curcumin. Immunol Invest 28(5–6):291–303
Attard E, Cuschieri A (2009) In vitro immunomodulatory activity of various extracts of Maltese plants from the Asteraceae family. J Med Plant Res 3(6):457–461
Augustine BB, Dash S, Lahkar M, Amara VR, Samudrala PK, Thomas JM (2014) Evaluation of immunomodulatory activity of ethyl acetate extract of Leucas aspera in Swiss albino mice. Int J Green Pharm:84–89
Banerjee M, Tripathi LM, Srivastava VML, Puri A, Shukla R (2003) Modulation of inflammatory mediators by ibuprofen and curcumin treatment during chronic inflammation in rat. Immunopharmacol Immunotoxicol 25:213–224
Berman AY, Motechin RA, Wiesenfeld MY, Holz MK (2017) The therapeutic potential of resveratrol: a review of clinical trials (Review Article). Precis Oncol 35:1–9
Bob Allkin (2017) Useful plants—medicines. State of the World’s Plants 2017. Royal Botanic Gardens
Boscolo P, del Signore A, Sabbioni E, Di Gioacchino M, Di Giampaolo L, Reale M, Conti P, Paganelli R, Giaccio M (2003) Effects of resveratrol on lymphocyte proliferation and cytokine release. Ann Clin Lab Sci 33(2):226–231
Bureau G, Longpre F, Martinoli MG (2008) Resveratrol and quercetin, two natural polyphenols, reduce apoptotic neuronal cell death induced by neuroinflammation. J Neurosci Res 86:403–410
Chanan-Khan AA, Swaika A, Paulus A et al (2013) Pomalidomide: the new immunomodulatory agent for the treatment of multiple myeloma. Blood Cancer J 3(9):e143. https://doi.org/10.1038/bcj.2013.38
Cundelland DR, Wilkinson F (2014) Curcumin: powerful immunomodulator from turmeric. Curr Immunol Rev 10:122–132. https://doi.org/10.2174/1573395510666141029233003
Dahanukar SA, Kulkarni RA, Rege NN (2000) Pharmacology of medicinal plants and natural products. Indian J Pharm 32:S81–S118
Delafuente JC, Devane CL (1991) Immunologic effects of cocaine and related alkaloids. Immunopharmacol Immunotoxicol 13:1–2
Dhama K, Saminathan M, Jacob SS, Mithilesh S, Karthik K, Amarpal RT, Sunkara LT, Malik YS, Singh RK (2015) Effect of immunomodulation and immunomodulatory agents on health with some bioactive principles, modes of action and potent biomedical applications. Int J Pharm 11:253–290
Falchetti R, Fuggetta MP, Lanzilli G, Tricarico M, Ravagnan G (2001) Effects of resveratrol on human immune cell function. Life Sci 70(1):81–96
Fu Q, Cui Q, Yang Y, Zhao X, Song X, GuangxiWang LB, Chen S, Tian Y, Zou Y, Li L, GuizhouYue RJ, Yin Z (2018) Effect of resveratrol dry suspension on immune function of piglets. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med:5952707. https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/5952707
Gately MK, Desai BB, Wolitzky AG, Quinn PM, Dwyer CM, Podlaski FJ, Familletti PC, Sinigaglia F, Chizzonite R, Gubler U (1991) Regulation of human lymphocyte proliferation by a heterodimeric cytokine, IL-12 (cytotoxic lymphocyte maturation factor). J Immunol 147(3):874–882
Gaur K, Kori ML, Nema RK (2009) Comparative screening of immunomodulatory activity of hydro-alcoholic extract of Hibiscus rosa sinensis Linn. And Ethanolic extract of Cleome gynandra Linn. Global J Pharmacol 3(2):85–89
Ghaemi A, Soleimanjahi H, Razeghi S, Gorji A, Tabaraei A, Moradi A, Alizadeh A, Vakili MA (2012) Genistein induces a protective immunomodulatory effect in a mouse model of cervical Cancer. Iran J Immunol 9(2):119–127
Gottwald T, Lhotak S, Stead RH (2003) Effect of truncal vagotomy and capsaicin on mast cells and IgA-positive plasma cells in rat jejunal mucosa. Neurogastroenterol Motil 9(1)
Guo TL, McCay JA, Zhang LX, Brown RD, You L, Karrow NA, Germolec DR, White KL Jr (2001) Genistein modulates immune responses and increases host resistance to B16F10 tumor in adult female B6C3F1 mice. J Nutr 131(12)
He X, Niu X, Li J, Xu S, Lu A (2012) Immunomodulatory activities of five clinically used Chinese herbal polysaccharides. J Exp Integr Med 2(1):15–27
Huynh NB (2017) The immunological benefits of green tea (Camellia sinensis). Int J Biol 9(1):10–17
Ilfeld D, Feierman E, Kuperman O, Kivity S, Topilsky M, Netzer L, Pecht M, Trainin N (1984) Effect of colchicine on T cell subsets of healthy volunteers. Immunology 53(3):595–598
Jagetia GC, Aggarwal BB (2007) “Spicing up” of the immune system by Curcumin. J Clin Immunol 27(1):1–19
Jantan I, Ahmad W, Bukhari SNA, Jantan I, Ahmad W, Bukhari SNA (2015) Plant-derived immunomodulators: an insight on their preclinical evaluation and clinical trials. Front Plant Sci 6:655
Jayaraman S, Jayadevi Variyar E (2015) Evaluation of immunomodulatory and antioxidant activities of polysaccharides isolated from Callicarpa macrophylla Vahl. Int J Pharm Pharm Sci 7(9):1–4
Jayaraman S, Sumesh Kumar TM, Jayadevi Variyar E (2015) Evaluation of immunomodulation by Lepidagathis cuspidate and Phaseolus trilobus. Intl J Innov Pharm Sci Res 3(7):1–10
Jobin C, Bradhan CA, Russo MP, Juma B, Narula AS, Brenner DA, Sartor RB (2011) Curcumin blocks cytokine mediated NF-kappa B activation and pro-inflammatory gene expression. J Immunol 50(3):163–172
Jose J, Dhanya AT, Haridas KR, Sumesh Kumar TM, Jayaraman S, Variyar EJ, Sudhakaran S (2016) Structural characterization of a novel derivative of myricetin from Mimosa pudica as an antiproliferative agent for the treatment of cancer. Biomed Pharmacother 84:1067–1077
Jun W, Pei-Gen X, Shi-Ying L, Gao P (1992) The inhibitory effect of Sinomenine on immunological function in mice. Phytother Res 6(3):117–120
Jung J-H, Kang J-I, Kim H-S (2012) Effect of quercetin on impaired immune function in mice exposed to irradiation. Nutr Res Pract 6(4):301–307
Kaplan MM (1997) The use of methotrexate, colchicine, and other immunomodulatory drugs in the treatment of primary biliary cirrhosis. Semin Liver Dis 17(2):129–136
Kołodziej H, Kiderlen AF (2007) In vitro evaluation of antibacterial and immunomodulatory activities of Pelargonium reniforme, Pelargonium sidoides and the related herbal drug preparation EPs® 7630. Phytomedicine 14(Suppl 6):18–26
Kumar SV, Kumar SP, Rupesh D, Nitin K (2011) Immunomodulatory effects of some traditional medicinal plants. J Chem Pharm Res 3(1):675–684
Joanna Kurek (2017) Cytotoxic colchicine alkaloids: from plants to drugs, Cytotoxicity, Tülay Aşkın Çelik, IntechOpen: https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.72622. https://www.intechopen.com/books/cytotoxicity/cytotoxic-colchicine-alkaloids-from-plants-to-drugs
Kurup VP, Barrios CS (2008) Immunomodulatory effects of curcumin in allergy. Mol Nutr Food Res 52(9):1031–1039
Lai JH (2002) Immunomodulatory effects and mechanisms of plant alkaloid tetrandrine in autoimmune diseases. Acta Pharmacol Sin 23(12):1093–1101
Leung YY, Hui LLY, Kraus VB (2015) Colchicine—update on mechanisms of action and therapeutic uses. Semin Arthritis Rheum 45(3):341–350
Li Y, Yao J, Han C, Yang J, Chaudhry MT, Wang S, Liu H, Yin Y (2016) Quercetin, inflammation and immunity. Nutrients 8(3):167
Malaguarnera L (2019) Review-influence of resveratrol on the immune response. Nutrients 11(5):94–96
Manosroi A, Saraphanchot Witthaya A, Manosroi J (2005) In vitro immunomodulatory effect of Pouteria cambodiana (Pierre ex Dubard) Baehni extract. J Ethnopharmacol 101:90–94
Min S-Y, Yan M, Kim SB, Ravikumar S, Kwon S-R, Vanarsa K, Kim H-Y, Davis LS, Mohan C (2015) Green tea Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate suppresses autoimmune arthritis through Indoleamine-2,3-Dioxygenase expressing dendritic cells and the nuclear factor, Erythroid 2-like 2 antioxidant pathway. J Inflamm 12(53)
Mlcek J, Jurikova T, Skrivankova S, Sochor J (2016) Quercetin and its anti-allergic immune response. Molecules 21(5)
Motte J, Ambrosius B, Grüter T, Bachir H, Sgodzai M, Pedreiturria X, Pitarokoili K, Gold R (2018) Capsaicin-enriched diet ameliorates autoimmune neuritis in rats. J Neuroinflammation 15:122
Nevius E, Srivastava PK, Basu S (2012) Oral ingestion of capsaicin, the pungent component of chili pepper, enhances a discrete population of macrophages and confers protection from autoimmune diabetes. Mucosal Immunol 5(1):76–86
Novak M, Vetvicka V (2008) β-Glucans, history, and the present: Immunomodulatory aspects and mechanisms of action. J Immunotoxicol 5:47–57
Pae M, Wu D (2013) Immunomodulating effects of epigallocatechin-3-gallate from green tea: mechanisms and applications. Food Funct 4(9):1287–1303
Park HJ, Lee CM, Jung ID, Lee JS, Jeong YI, Chang JH, Chun SH, Kim MJ, Choi IW, Ahn SC, Shin YK, Yeom SR, Park YM (2009) Quercetin regulates Th1/Th2 balance in a murine model of asthma. Int Immunopharmacol 3:261–267
Ramberg JE, Nelson ED, Sinnott RA (2010) Immunomodulatory dietary polysaccharides: a systematic review of the literature. Nutr J 9(54):1–22
Raphael TJ, Kuttan G (2003) Immunomodulatory activity of naturally occurring monoterpenes carvone, limonene, and perillic acid. Immunopharmacol Immunotoxicol 25(2):285–294
Saadé NE, Massaad CA, Ochoa-Chaar CI, Jabbur SJ, Safieh-Garabedian B, Atweh SF (2002) Upregulation of proinflammatory cytokines and nerve growth factor by intraplantar injection of capsaicin in rats. J Physiol 545(1):241–253
Saiko P, Szakmary A, Jaeger W, Szekeres T (2008) Resveratrol and its analogs: Defense against cancer, coronary disease and neurodegenerative maladies or just a fad? Mutat Res Rev 658:68–94
Satpute KL, Jadhav MM, Karodi RS, Katare YS, Patil MJ, Rub R, Bafna AR (2009) Immunomodulatory activity of fruits of Randia dumetorum Lamk. J Pharmacogn Phytother 1:1–5
Schepetkin IA, Faulkner CL, Nelson-Overton LK, Wiley JA, Quinn MT (2005) Macrophage immunomodulatory activity of polysaccharides isolated from Juniperus scopulorum. Int Immunopharmacol 5(13):1783–1799
Schwarz YA, Kivity S, Ilfeld DN, Schlesinger M, Greif J, Topilsky M, Garty MS (1990) A clinical and immunologic study of colchicines in asthma. J Allergy Clin Immunol 85(3):578–582
Singh B, Sharma RA (2015) Plant terpenes: defense responses, phylogenetic analysis, regulation and clinical applications. 3 Biotech Biotech 5(2):129–151
Singh VK, Biswas S, Mathur KB, Haq W, Garg SK, Agarwal SS (1998) Thymopentin and splenopentin as immunomodulators. Current status (review). Immunol Res 17(3):345–368
Singh N, Tailang M, Mehta SC (2016) A review on herbal plants as immunomodulators. Int J Pharm Sci Res 7(9):3602–3610
Souza MA, Carvalho FC, Ruas LP, Ricci-Azevedo R, Roque-Barreira MC (2013) The immunomodulatory effect of plant lectins: a review with emphasis on Artin M properties. Glycoconj J 30:641–657
Surh YJ, Chun KS, Cha HH, Han SS, Keum Y, Park KK, Lee SS (2001) Molecular mechanisms underlying chemopreventive activities of anti-inflammatory phytochemicals: down-regulation of COX-2 and iNOS through suppression of NF-kappa B activation. Mutat Res:43–68
Varma A, Padh H, Shrivastava N (2011) Andrographolide: a new plant-derived antineoplastic entity on horizon. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2011:815390. https://doi.org/10.1093/ecam/nep135
Watson ES, Murphy JC, ElSohly HN, ElSohly MA, Turner CE (1983) Effects of the administration of coca alkaloids on the primary immune responses of mice: interaction with delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol and ethanol. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 71(1):1–13
Wong CP, Nguyen LP, Noh SK, Bray TM, Bruno RS, Ho E (2011) Induction of regulatory T cells by green tea polyphenol EGCG. Immunol Lett 139(1):7–13
Yellayi S, Zakroczymski MA, Selvaraj V, Valli VE, Ghanta V, Helferich WG, Cooke PS (2003) The phytoestrogen genistein suppresses cell-mediated immunity in mice. J Endocrinol 176(2):267–274
Yu R, Park JW, Kurata T, Erickson KL (1998) Modulation of select immune responses by dietary capsaicin. Int J Vitam Nutr Res 68(2):114–119
Zhou T, Zhu M, Liang Z (2018) (−)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate modulates peripheral immunity in the MPTP-induced mouse model of Parkinson’s disease. Mol Med Rep 17(4):4883–4888
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Jayaraman, S., Variyar, J. (2020). Plant Metabolites as Immunomodulators. In: Sukumaran, S.T., Sugathan, S., Abdulhameed, S. (eds) Plant Metabolites: Methods, Applications and Prospects. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5136-9_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5136-9_18
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-15-5135-2
Online ISBN: 978-981-15-5136-9
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)