Immunomodulatory and cellular anti-oxidant activities of caffeic, ferulic, and p-coumaric phenolic acids: a structure–activity relationship study

Abstract

Many studies have been performed to assess the potential utility of natural products as immunomodulatory agents to enhance host responses and to reduce damage to the human body. To determine whether phenolic compounds (caffeic, ferulic, and p-coumaric acids) have immunomodulatory effects and clarify which types of immune effector cells are stimulated in vitro, we evaluated their effect on splenocyte proliferation and lysosomal enzyme activity. We also investigated the activity of natural killer (NK) cells and cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL). In addition, induction of the cellular antioxidant activity in splenocytes, macrophages, and red blood cells was determined by measuring the fluorescence of the DCF product. The study first results indicated that caffeic, ferulic, and p-coumaric acids significantly promote LPS-stimulated splenocyte proliferation, suggesting a potential activation of B cells, and enhanced humoral immune response in hosts treated by the tested natural products. Phenolic acids significantly enhanced the killing activity of isolated NK and CTL cells but had negligible effects on mitogen-induced proliferation of splenic T cells. We showed that caffeic acid enhances lysosomal enzyme activity in murine peritoneal macrophages, suggesting a potential role in activating such cells. Immunomodulatory activity was concomitant with the cellular antioxidant effect in macrophages and splenocytes of caffeic and ferulic acids. We conclude from this study that caffeic, ferulic, and p-coumaric acids exhibited an immunomodulatory effect which could be ascribed, in part, to their cytoprotective effect via their antioxidant capacity. Furthermore, these results suggest that these natural products could be potentially used to modulate immune cell functions in physiological and pathological conditions.

Synergistic Anticancer Activity of Combined Use of Caffeic Acid with Paclitaxel Enhances Apoptosis of Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer H1299 Cells in Vivo and in Vitro

“…In this study, we tested the effect of CA on PTX-treated NSCLC H1299 cells using MTT and Annexin V-FITC/PI double staining assays and found that CA inhibited the growth and proliferation of H1299 cells in a dose-dependent manner, which is consistent with studies in other cancer cells [12][13][14][15]. However, we found that the effective concentration of CA in H1299 cells should be no lower than 500 μM.…”

Pectin and inulin stimulated the mucus formation at a similar level: An omics‐based comparative analysis

“…Triterpene saponins had been reported to regulate the immune function of hosts (Zhang et al., 2016). Another metabolite, 1,26‐dicaffeoylhexacosanediol that belongs to the class of organic compounds known as coumaric acid, was also with immune‐modulatory activity (Kilani‐Jaziri et al., 2017). Moreover, trans‐EKODE‐(E)‐Ib (also called 12,13‐epoxy‐9‐keto‐10‐trans‐octadecenoic acid) could be related to the inflammation regulation (Vangaveti, Jansen, Kennedya, & Malabu, 2016).…”

Chemical characterization and immunostimulatory activity of phenolic acid bound arabinoxylans derived from foxtail and barnyard millets

“…Kilani-jaziri et al, 2017). Prashanth et al, 2014 compared the immunostimulating effect of arabinoxylan and arabinoxylan with bound ferulic acid from finger millet bran.…”