Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, Ministry of Education, College of food Engineering and Biotechnology, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, No. 29, 13th Avenue, Tianjin Economy Technological Development Area, Tianjin 300457, People Republic of China.
Food Funct. 2019 Jun 19;10(6):3262-3271. doi: 10.1039/c9fo00482c.
Polysaccharides are closely associated with immune regulation. In this study, the aim was to investigate the effect of polysaccharides from Cordyceps gunnii mycelia (PPS) in cyclophosphamide (CTX)-induced immunodeficient mice. Compared with the CTX-induced immunosuppressed mice, the spleen and thymus indexes in mice with orally administered PPS were significantly increased, body weight loss was alleviated, and the natural killer (NK) cytotoxicity and proliferative activities of the lymphocytes were elevated. The recovery of peripheral white blood cells, red blood cells, hemoglobins and platelets was accelerated. Furthermore, the results from ELISA showed that PPS could up-regulate the serum levels of IL-2, IL-12, IFN-γ and IgG, and reduce the level of TGF-β. Histopathological analysis of the spleen revealed the protective effect of PPS against CTX-induced immunosuppression. Western blotting results showed that PPS possessed immunomodulatory activity via TLR4/TRAF6/NF-κB signalling pathways. Finally, the intestinal absorption of PPS was poor, as detected in the Caco-2 transwell system. Taken together, these findings suggest that PPS plays a crucial role in protection against immunosuppression in cyclophosphamide-treated mice and could be a potential candidate for use in immune therapy regimens.
多糖与免疫调节密切相关。本研究旨在探讨蛹虫草菌丝体多糖（PPS）对环磷酰胺（CTX）致免疫低下小鼠的作用。与 CTX 诱导的免疫抑制小鼠相比，口服 PPS 的小鼠脾脏和胸腺指数显著增加，体重减轻得到缓解，自然杀伤（NK）细胞的细胞毒性和淋巴细胞的增殖活性提高。外周白细胞、红细胞、血红蛋白和血小板的恢复加快。此外，ELISA 结果表明，PPS 可以上调血清中 IL-2、IL-12、IFN-γ 和 IgG 的水平，并降低 TGF-β的水平。脾组织的组织病理学分析表明 PPS 对 CTX 诱导的免疫抑制具有保护作用。Western blot 结果表明，PPS 通过 TLR4/TRAF6/NF-κB 信号通路发挥免疫调节活性。最后，在 Caco-2 转染系统中检测到 PPS 的肠道吸收较差。综上所述，这些发现表明 PPS 在保护环磷酰胺处理的小鼠免受免疫抑制方面发挥着重要作用，可能是免疫治疗方案的潜在候选药物。
