Sun Andy, Chia Jean-San, Wang Won-Bo, Chiang Chun-Pin
School of Dentistry, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Am J Chin Med. 2005;33(4):559-71. doi: 10.1142/S0192415X05003168.
Recurrent aphthous ulcerations (RAU) represent a common oral mucosal disease with altered humoral and cellular immunities. Tien-Hsien liquid (THL) is an extract of Chinese medicinal herbs with immunomodulating effects. Our previous study found that THL can modulate the antigen-stimulated proliferative response of peripheral blood mononuclear cells and T-cells isolated from RAU patients. In this study, we further tested whether THL can modulate the antigen-stimulated cytokine production by T-cells isolated from RAU patients. To achieve this goal, T-cells isolated from 19 RAU patients were incubated with phytohemagglutinin (PHA), glutaraldehyde-inactivated tetanus toxoid (TT), glucosyltransferase D (GtfD), or antigens of Streptococcus mutans in the presence or absence of THL. The levels of interleukin (IL)-2, interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), IL-6, or IL-10 in the supernatants of T-cell cultures were measured by cytokine enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits. We found that THL significantly increased the PHA- or TT-stimulated TNF-alpha, IL-6, and IL-10 production by T-cells isolated from RAU patients. However, THL could also significantly decrease the TT-stimulated IL-2 production, the GtfD-stimulated IL-2, TNF-alpha, IL-6 and IL-10 production, and the S. mutans-stimulated IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha, and IL-10 production by T-cells isolated from RAU patients. These results indicate that THL can modulate the antigen-stimulated cytokine production by T-cells isolated from RAU patients. Because RAU is probably a Thl-mediated disease with elevated levels of IL-2, IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha and IL-6 in either the patient's sera or oral lesions and these increased levels of cytokines can be reduced by THL, we suggest that THL may be a potential immunoceutical agent for treatment of RAU.
复发性阿弗他溃疡（RAU）是一种常见的口腔黏膜疾病，伴有体液免疫和细胞免疫改变。天仙液（THL）是一种具有免疫调节作用的中草药提取物。我们之前的研究发现，THL可以调节从RAU患者分离的外周血单个核细胞和T细胞的抗原刺激增殖反应。在本研究中，我们进一步测试了THL是否可以调节从RAU患者分离的T细胞的抗原刺激细胞因子产生。为实现这一目标，将从19例RAU患者分离的T细胞在有或无THL的情况下与植物血凝素（PHA）、戊二醛灭活破伤风类毒素（TT）、葡糖基转移酶D（GtfD）或变形链球菌抗原一起孵育。通过细胞因子酶联免疫吸附测定（ELISA）试剂盒测量T细胞培养上清液中白细胞介素（IL）-2、干扰素-γ（IFN-γ）、肿瘤坏死因子-α（TNF-α）、IL-6或IL-10的水平。我们发现，THL显著增加了从RAU患者分离的T细胞对PHA或TT刺激的TNF-α、IL-6和IL-10产生。然而，THL也可以显著降低从RAU患者分离的T细胞对TT刺激的IL-2产生、对GtfD刺激的IL-2、TNF-α、IL-6和IL-10产生，以及对变形链球菌刺激的IFN-γ、TNF-α和IL-10产生。这些结果表明，THL可以调节从RAU患者分离的T细胞的抗原刺激细胞因子产生。由于RAU可能是一种Th1介导的疾病，患者血清或口腔病变中IL-2、IFN-γ、TNF-α和IL-6水平升高，而THL可以降低这些细胞因子的升高水平，我们认为THL可能是治疗RAU的一种潜在免疫制剂。
