Lee Han-Sung, Chung Seok-Hee, Song Mi-Yeon, Kim Sung-Soo, Shin Hyun-Dae, Shim Woo-Jin, Han Ae-Ri, Lee Jong-Soo
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2008 Nov 20;120(2):215-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2008.08.014. Epub 2008 Aug 23.
This study was performed to elicit the effectiveness of bee venom (BV), a traditional immunosuppressive Korean acupuncture agent, on the maturation of dendrtic cells (DCs).
Immature dendritic cells (iDCs) were generated from mouse bone marrow cells with GM-CSF. After 10 days of initial differentiation, DCs were activated with lipopolysaccharides (LPS) for another 48h in the presence or absence of BV. Surface molecule analysis, intracytoplasmic staining of cytokines, FITC-conjugated antigen uptake, and transwell migration assays were conducted with iDCs and activated DCs.
Up-regulation of costimulatory molecules, typical of mature DCs (mDCs) was inhibited by addition of BV. Pro-inflammatory cytokines were also found to be reduced with BV treatment in LPS-stimulated DC. A decrease in antigen uptake upon the maturation of DC was reversed in low dose BV treated mDC. In addition, BV treated mDC demonstrated reduced directional migration in response to CCL21, a lymphoid chemokine which directs mDC.
BV may have a therapeutic effect an on abnormally activated immune status, such as autoimmune rheumatoid arthritis, through an immune-modulatory effect on DC.
