The adjuvant activity of Chenopodium quinoa (quinoa) saponins on the humoral and cellular immune responses of mice subcutaneously immunized with ovalbumin (OVA) was evaluated. Two quinoa saponin fractions were obtained, FQ70 and FQ90, and 10 saponins were determined by UPLC/Q-TOF-MS. Mice were immunized subcutaneously with OVA alone or adjuvanted with Quil A (adjuvant control), FQ70, or FQ90. FQ70 and FQ90 significantly enhanced the amount of anti-OVAspecific antibodies in serum (IgG, IgG1, and IgG2b) in immunized mice. The adjuvant effect of FQ70 was significantly greater than that of FQ90. However, delayed type hypersensitivity responses were higher in mice immunized with OVA adjuvanted with FQ90 than mice treated with FQ70. Concanavalin A (Con A)-, lipopolysaccharide-, and OVA-stimulated splenocyte proliferation were measured, and FQ90 significantly enhanced the Con A-induced splenocyte proliferation. The results suggested that the two quinoa saponin fractions enhanced significantly the production of humoral and cellular immune responses to OVA in mice.

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Uncaria tomentosa is widely used in folk medicine for the treatment of numerous diseases, such as urinary tract disease. Hemorrhagic cystitis (HE) is an inflammatory condition of the bladder associated with the use of anticancer drugs such as cyclophosphamide (CYP). Sodium 2-mercaptoethanesulfonate (Mesna) has been used to prevent the occurrence of HE, although this compound is not effective in established lesions. It has been demonstrated that the purinergic system is involved in several pathophysiological events. Among purinergic receptors, P2X7 deserves attention because it is involved in HE induced by CYP and, therefore, can be considered a therapeutic target. The objective of this study was to investigate the potential therapeutic effect of the quinovic acid glycosides purified fraction (QAPF) from U. tomentosa in the mouse model of CYP-induced HE. Pretreatment with QAPF not only had a protective effect on HE-induced urothelial damage (edema, hemorrhage and bladder wet weight) but was also able to control visceral pain, decrease IL-1β levels and down-regulates P2X7 receptors, most likely by inhibit the neutrophils migration to the bladder. This research clearly demonstrates the promising anti-inflammatory properties of QAPF, supporting its use as complementary therapy. QAPF represents a promising therapeutic option for this pathological condition.

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In previous studies cn the immunization of human beings with type-specific polysaccharides of pneumococcus (1, 2) the serological evidence of an immune response has been based exclusively on relative methods such as mouse protection or the agglutinin or precipitin titers of sera of the vaccinated individuals, owing to the lack of any method suitable for estimating the very small quantities of antibody ordinarily present in human sera. Recently, however, modifications have been introduced by which quantitative absolute methods for the estimation of antibody nitrogen (3, 4) were made applicable to amounts as small as a few micrograms (5, 6). Essential changes were the use of a more sensitive method for measuring antibody protein, allowance of sufficient time for small quantities of specific precipitates to separate from the viscous serum medium, and use of relatively much serum (about 4 ml. per determination) when necessary. The present paper deals with data obtained by the new method with the sera of (a) a group of medical students injected with Type I and Type II pneumococci, (b) three groups injected with small amounts of Type I and Type II specific polysaccharides, and (c) a group injected with Types I, II, and V specific polysaccharides. A comparison of the results with the mouse-protective titers of representative sera is given in the following paper (7).As the study of the initial prevaccination sera progressed it was found that few contained more than traces, at most, of antibodies to the type-specific polysaccharides of Types I, II, III, IV, and V pneumococci. When the sera were tested with Type VII polysaccharide, however, most of them reacted, many quite strongly. On closer scrutiny it developed that the sample of Type VII polysaccharide used conrained roughly one-third of its weight of the C substance of pneumococcus (8) and that the greater portion of the precipitates obtained with the crude material was due to the reaction of the C substance with anti-C present in almost all of the sera.

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