Effect of a novel ashwagandha-based herbomineral formulation on pro-inflammatory cytokines expression in mouse splenocyte cells: A potential immunomodulator

Background: Herbomineral formulations are momentous in an audience of worldwide by virtue of their holistic approach to life. These formulations are widely used as complementary therapies in immunocompromised patients including cancer. Still, there is the need of cost-effective and safe herbomineral-based formulation that can modulate immune response by the regulation of cytokines cascades.
Objective: Current study, we investigated immunomodulatory effect of TEBEH in LPS-induced cytokines expression levels in mouse splenocytes in vitro.
Materials and Methods: The most effective and safe concentrations of TEBEH were chosen by determining the cell viability of splenocytes using MTT assay. The pro-inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α, IL-1β, MIP-1α, and IFN-γ were measured in cell supernatants using ELISA. Results: MTT data showed TEBEH formulation was found safe up to 10.53 µg/mL. At noncytotoxic concentrations (0.00001053–10.53 µg/mL), TEBEH significantly (P ≤ 0.001) inhibited the expressions of TNF-α, IL-1β, and MIP-1α in mouse splenocytes as compared with vehicle control.
Conclusion: In summary, TEBEH may indeed promote an anti-inflammatory environment by suppression of pro-inflammatory cytokines. These observations indicated that TEBEH has potential effects in downregulating the immune system and might be developed as a useful anti-inflammatory product for various inflammatory disorders.
SUMMARY: The present study was undertaken to evaluate an immunomodulatory effect of the herbomineral formulation in LPS-induced mouse splenocytes with the measurement of cytokines expression such as TNF-α, IL-1β, MIP-1α and IFN-γ. The results showed that the expression of TNF-α, IL-1β, and MIP-1α was significantly down-regulated while, IFN-γ was significantly up-regulated in mouse splenocytes. It is hypothesized that modulation of the proinflammatory cytokines might occur via NF-kB pathway. Therefore, the herbomineral test formulation might act as an effective anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory product, and this can be used as a complementary and alternative treatment for the prevention of various types of inflammatory and auto-immune disorders.

The study results summarize that TEBEH showed better and significant inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α and IL-1β) and chemokine (MIP-1α) expression as compared with the VC group in mouse splenocyte cells. In brief, the expression of MIP-1a was suppressed at all the tested concentrations. additionally, the level of IFN-γ was significantly upregulated in the highest concentration. Overall, data indicated a significant reduction of TNF-α, MIP-1a, and IL-1β and elevation of IFN-γ the pro-inflammatory mediators upon exposure with the TEBEH on splenocyte cells. In conclusion, the herbomineral-based formulation TEBEH might act as an effective anti-inflammatory product and can be used as a complementary and alternative treatment and prevention of various types of inflammatory disorders.