Prosopis strombulifera (LAM.) BENTH MODULATES IMMUNE CELL ACTIVATION

MACKERN OBERTI, JUAN PABLO; ABBA, ROMINA; GAMARRA, CARLOS; PERSIA, ANDRES

Congreso; XXXIV Reunión Científica Anual de la Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo; 2016

Autoimmune diseases are characterized by alterations affecting innate and adaptive immune cells. Although major progress has been made in elucidating the molecular mechanisms responsible for autoimmunity, current therapies for autoimmune diseases have not considerably improved. The aim of this work was to assess the immunosupressive effects of the native plant Prosopis strombulifera (Lam.) Benth in in vitro assays. Splenocytes were obtained from C57BL/6 mice. Parameters of splenocytes and CD4+ T cell activation such as CD69 expression by FACS after Concanavalin A (ConA) stimulation were used to evaluate the immune modulation of P. strombulifera from cell cultures (24hs). IFN- production after ConA stimulation was analyzed by ELISA. Interestingly, we found that P. strombulifera decreased the frequency of activated (CD69+) splenocytes after ConA stimulation compared to control cultures (P. strombulifera: 30.91±1.32 vs control: 11.06 ± 0.38; p=0,0048). Similarly, P. strombulifera impaired CD4+ activation after ConA stimulation (P. strombulifera: 51.98 ± 1.94 vs control: 16.08 ± 0.03; p=0,0029). Although not statistically significant, when IFN- production in response to ConA was evaluated, we found that splenocyte cultures in the presence of P. strombulifera displayed lower levels than control cultures (P. strombulifera: 249.3 ± 92.25 vs control: 70.66 ± 7.85; p=0,0967). These data suggest that P. strombulifera impaired immune cell activation and reduced the production of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IFN- which in turn may decrease immune responses. Although much work is needed to completely understand underlying mechanism of this immune suppression, our results highlight the immunotherapeutic potential of P. strombulifera in immune mediated diseases.