Immunomodulatory effect of scopoletin, isolated from Tilia cordata Flower, on tumoral and normal lymphocytes.

: MARÍA GABRIELA MANUELE, GRACIELA FERRARO, MARIA LAURA BARREIRO ARCOS, PAULA LÓPEZ, GRACIELA CREMASCHI AND CLAUDIA ANESINI

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Lugar: Reino Unido; Año: 2006 vol. 79 p. 2043 - 2048

0024-3205

Some coumarins possess enhancing effects on lymphocyte mitogen responsiveness. In this investigation, the activity of scopoletin, a coumarin that has been isolated from different plants and in this case specifically from T. cordata Mill., was evaluated.  For this purpose, normal T lymphocytes and a hyperproliferative T lymphoma cell line  were used. Scopoletin was found to exert a dual action on tumoral lymphocytes exhibiting both a cytostatic and cytotoxic effect. These effects varied with the concentrations analysed and the time of cell incubation (EC50 : 251 ± 15 µg/ml) and  were associated to the induction of apoptosis. Scopoletin induced cell proliferation on normal T lymphocytes (Proliferation stimulation index: 1µg/ml scopoletin: 1,26 ± 0,1; 10 µg/ml scopoletin: 3 ± 0,25; 100 µg/ml scopoletin: 1,86 ± 0,08); this stimulatory action was found to be due to the interaction with  kinase C (PKC) protein. These results indicate that scopoletin could be a potential antitumoral compound to be used for cancer treatment.