ArticleDaru : journal of Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences2026
Immunomodulatory effects of glycyrrhizin and glucomannan on cytokine gene expression in human PBMCs: implications for vaccine adjuvant development.
Article in Daru : journal of Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
backgroundVaccine adjuvants enhance immune responses to weak antigens. Natural compounds such as glycyrrhizin and glucomannan show immunomodulatory potential, but their combined effects on human cytokine expression as an adjuvant remain unclear.
objectiveTo evaluate the immunomodulatory effects of glucomannan (GA) from Amorphophallus konjac and glycyrrhizin (GL) from Glycyrrhiza glabra on cytokine gene expression in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), assessing their potential to promote Th1 polarization as candidate vaccine adjuvants.
methodsPBMCs isolated from ten healthy donors were treated with GA and GL at 25 and 50 µg/mL, either individually or in combination. Cell viability was assessed using the MTT assay. Gene expression levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α), the Th1 cytokine (IFN-γ), and Th2/regulatory cytokines (IL-10, TGF-β) were quantified using RT-qPCR.
resultsGA and GL significantly increased IL-6, TNF-α, and IFN-γ expression in a dose-dependent manner (p < 0.05 to p < 0.001), while significantly reducing IL-10 and TGF-β expression compared with the control group (p < 0.05 to p < 0.001). The combined treatment produced the strongest immunomodulatory response, characterized by enhanced expression of pro-inflammatory and Th1-associated cytokines and greater suppression of Th2/regulatory cytokines relative to individual treatments (p < 0.001). The MTT assay identified 25 and 50 µg/mL as safe and effective GA concentrations for subsequent experiments, based on cell proliferation and cytotoxicity assessments.
conclusionIn human PBMCs, GA and GL promote a Th1-biased cytokine response at the mRNA expression level under in vitro conditions, suggesting their implications for vaccine adjuvant development. However, these results are limited to in vitro gene expression data and have not been validated at the protein level, a gap that warrants further investigation.
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