Authors
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Jing J. Li
State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, and Beijing Key Laboratory of New Drug Mechanisms and Pharmacological Evaluation Study, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
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Shuanggang Ma
State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, and Beijing Key Laboratory of New Drug Mechanisms and Pharmacological Evaluation Study, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
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Yaling Wang
State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, and Beijing Key Laboratory of New Drug Mechanisms and Pharmacological Evaluation Study, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China; College of Chinese Materia Medica and Yunnan Key Laboratory of Southern Medicinal Utilization, Yunnan University of Chinese Medicine, Yunnan, China
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Manqiu Wang
State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, and Beijing Key Laboratory of New Drug Mechanisms and Pharmacological Evaluation Study, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
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Mingyan Li
State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, and Beijing Key Laboratory of New Drug Mechanisms and Pharmacological Evaluation Study, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
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Changxing Gao
State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, and Beijing Key Laboratory of New Drug Mechanisms and Pharmacological Evaluation Study, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
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Lingzhi Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, and Beijing Key Laboratory of New Drug Mechanisms and Pharmacological Evaluation Study, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
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Yong Li
State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, and Beijing Key Laboratory of New Drug Mechanisms and Pharmacological Evaluation Study, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
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Yunbao Liu
State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, and Beijing Key Laboratory of New Drug Mechanisms and Pharmacological Evaluation Study, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
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Zora Dajić Stevanović
Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Belgrade 11080, Serbia
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Nikola Tanić
Institute for Biological Research “Siniša Stanković”, National Institute of Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade, Belgrade 11060, Serbia
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Nebojsa Arsenijevic
Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, Kragujevac 3d000, Serbia
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Shishan Yu
State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, and Beijing Key Laboratory of New Drug Mechanisms and Pharmacological Evaluation Study, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
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Qing Zhu
State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, and Beijing Key Laboratory of New Drug Mechanisms and Pharmacological Evaluation Study, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
Keywords:
Teucrium montanum extract, fraction, cell proliferation, T-cell differentiation, Tcm, Teff/Tem, Tpe
Abstract
Introduction: Teucrium montanum has been traditionally used for immune system strengthening. However, T cell-related mechanisms of the Teucrium species remain poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the impact of T. montanum extracts and their fractions in stimulating proliferation and, more importantly, in differentiation into effectors and memory T cells.
Methods: The dried, aerial part of T. montanum was extracted in four different solvents: petroleum ether, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, and methanol. A total of 67 fractions were subsequently collected from the dichloromethane extract in a stepwise gradient system of petroleum ether/acetone followed by methanol. An Alamar Blue assay and flow cytometry were employed to characterize the influence on T cell response by the plant extracts or fractions.
Results: The dichloromethane extract showed promotive effects on the proliferation and activation of total lymphocytes, and this was more prominent in CD8+ T cells. Among the 67 fractions from the dichloromethane extract, nine were found to demonstrate pro-proliferative activity. Further testing revealed that three methanolic or acetone subfractions out of the nine fractions were able to either promote effector/ effector memory differentiation of primed CD8+ T cells or skew the T cells into a central memory phenotype.
Conclusion: Our results suggest that T. montanum can drive proliferation of T cells and regulate the development of effector and memory populations, apparently corroborating the reported immunological benefits of T. montanum.
Section
Original Research
License
Copyright The Author(s) 2017. This article is published with open access by BioMedPress. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0) which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.
