a b s t r a c tSouth Africa is currently experiencing an increase in the number of traditional medicine preparations which purport to have immune boosting effects. This is largely related to the high prevalence of HIV infections. This study therefore aimed to evaluate the possible immunomodulatory mechanisms of uMakhonya®, one of the widely used commercial immune boosters, using THP-1 monocyte cells. Endotoxin-free doses of uMakhonya® ranging from 1000 μg/mL to 10 μg/mL were used to evaluate the cytotoxic effects, cell migration, secretion of twelve different chemokines and possible modulation of nuclear factor kappa Beta (NF-κβ) transcriptional activity. This commercial traditional medicine product was shown to induce dose dependent cytotoxicity with high doses significantly (p b 0.05) cytotoxic to monocytes (IC 50 of 100.08 and 107.68 μg/mL for normal and LPS stimulated THP-1 cells respectively) when compared to untreated cells. The lower doses were shown to have no significant (p N 0.05) chemo-attractant effects in the cell migration assay. UMakhonya® at these lower and less cytotoxic doses induced a significant (p b 0.05) increase in secretion of chemokines in unstimulated THP-1 cells when compared to untreated and cyclosporine treated cells. In LPS-stimulated THP-1 cells only MIP-1β secretion was significantly increased by both 100 and 10 μg/mL. In both unstimulated and LPS-stimulated THP-1 cells the lowest dose of uMakhonya® increased transcriptional activity of NF-κβ which may explain the increase in chemokines secretion. Therefore this in vitro study showed that uMakhonya® is cytotoxic at high doses, did not show any chemo-attractant effects and induced significant increases in chemokines secretion. Increased transcriptional activity of NF-κβ in treated cells may contribute to increased chemokines secretion. This study on uMakhonya® should form the benchmark for the research of the high number of related products that are sold commercially in South Africa.
The traditional medicines sector in South Africa is still largely unregulated despite legislation aimed at regulating the practice being in place. The HIV and AIDS epidemic has fuelled demand for traditional medicines, with many patients consulting traditional health practitioners who offer different treatments, including herbal immune boosters. This study investigated the mutagenic and antioxidant effects of the widely sold herbal immune booster, uMakhonya®. The Ames test was used for analysis of the genototoxic effects while the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) assay was used to evaluate cell cytotoxicity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and THP-1 monocytes. To evaluate the antioxidant effects the malondialdehyde (MDA) quantification, the nitric oxide and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) assays were used. UMakhonya® doses of up to 5000 μg/mL were not genotoxic in the Ames test. UMakhonya® was shown to induce dose-dependent cytotoxicity in both PBMCs and THP-1 cells with doses ranging from 500 μg/ mL to 1000 μg/mL, showing significant (p less than 0.05) toxicity. UMakhonya® was able to significantly (p less than 0.05) reduce nitrite radicals at 100 μg/mL while lower doses were not effective when compared to samples stimulated by lipopolysaccharide only. Non-cytotoxic doses of uMakhonya® showed significant (p less than 0.05) lipid peroxide scavenging ability in supernatants while this scavenging ability was considerably reduced intracellularly. In the DPPH assay, when both uMakhonya® and ascorbic acid were reconstituted in buffered saline, the traditional herbal remedy showed better radical scavenging abilities. Therefore further studies on the genotoxicity of uMakhonya®, when metabolically activated, and its antioxidant effects in in-vivo models are warranted
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