Yimam, M.; Horm, T.; Cai, S.; O’Neal, A.; Jiao, P.; Hong, M.; Tea, T.; Jia, Q. Discovery of Transfer Factors in Plant-Derived Proteins and an In Vitro Assessment of Their Immunological Activities. Molecules2023, 28, 7961.
Yimam, M.; Horm, T.; Cai, S.; O’Neal, A.; Jiao, P.; Hong, M.; Tea, T.; Jia, Q. Discovery of Transfer Factors in Plant-Derived Proteins and an In Vitro Assessment of Their Immunological Activities. Molecules 2023, 28, 7961.
Yimam, M.; Horm, T.; Cai, S.; O’Neal, A.; Jiao, P.; Hong, M.; Tea, T.; Jia, Q. Discovery of Transfer Factors in Plant-Derived Proteins and an In Vitro Assessment of Their Immunological Activities. Molecules2023, 28, 7961.
Yimam, M.; Horm, T.; Cai, S.; O’Neal, A.; Jiao, P.; Hong, M.; Tea, T.; Jia, Q. Discovery of Transfer Factors in Plant-Derived Proteins and an In Vitro Assessment of Their Immunological Activities. Molecules 2023, 28, 7961.
Abstract
Repeated exposure to pathogens leads to evolutionary selection of adaptive traits. Many species transfer immunological memory to their offspring to counteract future immune challenges. Transfer factor such as that found in colostrum is among the many mechanisms where transfer of immunologic memory from one generation to the next can be achieved for enhanced immune response. Here, a library of 100 plants with high protein contents were screened to find plant-based proteins that behave like a transfer factor moiety to boost human immunity. Aqueous extracts from candidate plants were tested on a human peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) cytotoxicity assay using human cancerous lymphoblast cells - K562 cells as a target and Natural Killer cells as an effector. Plant extracts that caused PBMCs to exhibit enhanced killing beyond the capability of the colostrum-based transfer factor were considered hits. Primary screening yielded an 11% hit rate. Protein content of these hits were tested by Bradford Assay and Coomassie stained-SDS-PAGE, where three extracts were confirmed to have high protein contents. Plants with high protein contents underwent C18 column fractionation using methanol gradients followed by membrane ultrafiltration to isolate proteins with molecular weight <3 kDa, 3-30 kDa, and >30 kDa fractions. It was found that the 3-30 kDa and >30 kDa fractions had high activity in the PBMC cytotoxicity assay. The 3-30 kDa ultrafiltrates from the top two hits, seeds from Raphanus sativus and Brassica juncea, were then selected for protein identification by mass spectrometry. The majority of the proteins in the fractions were found to be seed storage proteins, with low abundance of proteins involved in plant defense and stress response. These findings suggest that Raphanus sativus or Brassica juncea extracts could be considered for further characterization and immune functional exploration with a possibility of supplemental use to bolster recipients’ immune response.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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