Abstract
Effect of Vernonia cinerea L. and vernolide-A on cell-mediated immune (CMI) response was studied in normal as well as tumor-bearing BALB/c mice. Administration of V. cinerea and vernolide-A significantly enhanced natural killer (NK) cell activity in both normal as well as tumor-bearing animals, and the activity was observed earlier than in tumor-bearing control animals. Antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) and antibody-dependent complement-mediated cytotoxicity (ACC) were also enhanced significantly in both normal as well as tumor-bearing animals after V. cinerea and vernolide-A administration compared with untreated control tumor-bearing animals. Extract and vernolide-A showed a significant increase in cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) production in both the in vivo and in vitro models. The level of cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-2 and interferon (IFN)-γ were also enhanced by the treatment of V. cinerea and vernolide-A in both normal as well as tumor-bearing animals. This study demonstrated that V. cinerea extract and vernolide-A stimulate the CTL, NK cell, ADCC, and ADCC through enhanced secretion of IL-2 and IFN-γ.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Dr Ramadasan Kuttan, Director, Amala Cancer Research Centre, for his consistent support during the study.
Declaration of interest
The authors declared no conflict of interest.