Immunomodulatory Activity of Red Ginseng against Influenza A Virus Infection

Nutrients

Jong Seok Lee¹  Hye Suk Hwang¹  Eun-Ju Ko¹  Yu-Na Lee¹  Young-Man Kwon¹  Min-Chul Kim¹ 

[1] Center for Inflammatory, Immunity & Infection, Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA; E-Mails:

关键词: Panax ginseng;    influenza A virus;    epithelial cells;    oxidative stress;    interferon;   

DOI  :  10.3390/nu6020517

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Ginseng herbal medicine has been known to have beneficial effects on improving human health. We investigated whether red ginseng extract (RGE) has preventive effects on influenza A virus infection in vivo and in vitro. RGE was found to improve survival of human lung epithelial cells upon influenza virus infection. Also, RGE treatment reduced the expression of pro-inflammatory genes (IL-6, IL-8) probably in part through interference with the formation of reactive oxygen species by influenza A virus infection. Long-term oral administration of mice with RGE showed multiple immunomodulatory effects such as stimulating antiviral cytokine IFN-γ production after influenza A virus infection. In addition, RGE administration in mice inhibited the infiltration of inflammatory cells into the bronchial lumens. Therefore, RGE might have the potential beneficial effects on preventing influenza A virus infections via its multiple immunomodulatory functions.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.