Faculty of Biotechnology, Ho Chi Minh City Open University, 97 Vo Van Tan Street, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
NTT Hi-Tech Institute, Nguyen Tat Thanh University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Inflammopharmacology. 2019 Oct;27(5):871-883. doi: 10.1007/s10787-019-00630-4. Epub 2019 Aug 12.
Ginseng has been traditionally used as an herbal nutritional supplement in Asian countries, including Korea, China, Japan, and Vietnam for several millennia. Most studies have focused on the role of ginseng on anti-oxidative stress, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer activities. Recently, modulator activities of ginseng on the immune responses during pathogenic bacterial and viral infections and beneficial effects of ginseng in infectious diseases have been elucidated. In vivo and in vitro studies revealed the potential of ginseng extracts and ginsenosides Rg1, Rg3, Rb1, Rb2, Rb3, compound K, Re, Rd, Rh2 for treatment of several infectious diseases. The molecular mechanisms of these effects mainly involve inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1β, IFN-γ, IL-10), apoptotic pathway (bcl-2, bcl-xL), PI3K/Akt pathway, MAPKs pathway, JAK2/STAT5, NF-κB pathway, and the inflammasome. In this review, we will summarize the current knowledge on the effects of ginseng in the immune responses during the infections and its bioactivities on the prevention of infectious diseases as well as its underlying mechanisms. Moreover, the therapeutic potential of ginseng as an anti-bacterial and anti-viral medication and vaccine adjuvant will be discussed as well.
人参在亚洲国家（包括韩国、中国、日本和越南）已经有几千年的传统作为草本营养补充剂使用。大多数研究都集中在人参的抗氧化应激、抗炎和抗癌活性上。最近，人参对致病性细菌和病毒感染期间免疫反应的调节剂活性以及人参在传染病中的有益作用已经被阐明。体内和体外研究揭示了人参提取物和人参皂苷 Rg1、Rg3、Rb1、Rb2、Rb3、化合物 K、Re、Rd、Rh2 治疗几种传染病的潜力。这些作用的分子机制主要涉及炎症细胞因子（TNF-α、IL-6、IL-1β、IFN-γ、IL-10）、凋亡途径（bcl-2、bcl-xL）、PI3K/Akt 途径、MAPKs 途径、JAK2/STAT5、NF-κB 途径和炎症小体。在这篇综述中，我们将总结人参在感染期间免疫反应中的作用及其在预防传染病方面的生物活性及其潜在机制的最新知识。此外，还将讨论人参作为一种抗细菌和抗病毒药物以及疫苗佐剂的治疗潜力。
