Alleviation of cyclophosphamide-induced immunosuppression in Wistar rats by onion lectin (Allium cepa agglutinin)

Ethnopharmacological relevance: In various traditional medicines, onion has been classified as an immune -boosting food. Recent studies have claimed this property due to the presence of bioactive organosulfur compounds, prebiotic fructo-oligosaccharides and an immunomodulatory protein, lectin (Allium cepa agglutinin; ACA) (Prasanna and Venkatesh, 2015. Characterization of onion lectin (Allium cepa agglutinin) as an immunomodulatory protein inducing Thl-type immune response in vitro. Int. Immunopharmacol.,vol. 26, pp. 304-313). Aim of the study: The aim of this study was to evaluate the immunoprotective properties of ACA in normal and cyclophosphamide (CP; 100 mu g/kg)-induced immunosuppressed Wistar rats. Materials and methods: Wistar rats were administrated different doses of ACA (1, 10, and 100 mu g) to respective groups in normal as well as immunosuppressed animals. The effect of ACA on the status of immune organs was assessed by examining the splenic and thymic indices, and histopathological changes. The biomarkers for humoral immunity (serum IgG and IgA levels) and serum pro-inflammatory markers (COX-2, TNF-alpha and IL-10) were measured by ELISA. Results: ACA showed immunoprotective properties by significantly promoting the restoration of lymphoid cell count by similar to 6 fold vs. model control (immunosuppressed animals) and promotes the irhmune response significantly (similar to 1.5-fold) in CP-induced immunosuppressed animals compared to model control; production of pro-inflammatory molecules (COX-2 and nitric oxide) and expression levels of immune regulatory molecule (TNF-alpha) were elevated in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusions: The observed in vivo results suggest that ACA has the potential to be used as a nutritional therapeutic to boost the immune status of immunosuppressed subjects brought about by CP administration. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.