Immunostimulatory activities of polysaccharide extract isolated from Curcuma longa

Several curcuminoids and sesquiterpenoids isolated from Curcuma longa (CL) have been shown to have many pharmacological activities. In the present study, the immunomodulatory activities of the polar fractions of CL hot water extracts were investigated using human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). Our results showed that the high polarity fraction of the hot water extract exhibited stimulatory effects on PBMC proliferation as shown in [methyl-(3)H]-thymidine incorporation assay. In an attempt to isolate the active components responsible for the activities, further partition with ethyl acetate, n-butanol and ethanol, progressively were performed. The cytokine productions (TGF-beta, TNF-alpha, GM-CSF, IL-1alpha, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-13, etc.) have been modulated by a polysaccharide-enriched fraction as shown in ELISA and cytokine protein array. The proportion of CD14 positive stained PBMC was increased by such fraction. The composition of monosaccharide of the active fraction has been determined by GC-MS and gel permeation chromatography. The immunostimulatory effects of C. longa polysaccharides on PBMC were shown for the first time. The findings revealed the potential use of C. longa crude extract (containing curcuminoids and polysaccharides) as an adjuvant supplement for cancer patients, whose immune activities were suppressed during chemotherapies.