Immunomodulatory drug discovery from herbal medicines: Insights from organ-specific activity and xenobiotic defenses

eLife

Jue Shi¹  Timothy J Mitchison²  Jui-Hsia Weng³ 

[1] Centre for Quantitative Systems Biology, Department of Physics and Department of Biology, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China;Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States;Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States;Institute of Biological Chemistry, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan;

关键词: immunomodulatory drug;    xenobiotic defense;    drug discovery;    plant-derived molecules;    traditional chinese medicine;    organ-specific drug action;   

DOI  :  10.7554/eLife.73673

来源: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd

【 摘 要 】

Traditional herbal medicines, which emphasize a holistic, patient-centric view of disease treatment, provide an exciting starting point for discovery of new immunomodulatory drugs. Progress on identification of herbal molecules with proven single agent activity has been slow, in part because of insufficient consideration of pharmacology fundamentals. Many molecules derived from medicinal plants exhibit low oral bioavailability and rapid clearance, leading to low systemic exposure. Recent research suggests that such molecules can act locally in the gut or liver to activate xenobiotic defense pathways that trigger beneficial systemic effects on the immune system. We discuss this hypothesis in the context of four plant-derived molecules with immunomodulatory activity: indigo, polysaccharides, colchicine, and ginsenosides. We end by proposing research strategies for identification of novel immunomodulatory drugs from herbal medicine sources that are informed by the possibility of local action in the gut or liver, leading to generation of systemic immune mediators.

【 授权许可】

CC BY