the effect of echinops lasiolepis extracts, native plant of yazd province, on peripheral blood mononuclear cell proliferation and ifn-γ secretion

Background and aims: the present study was performed to investigate the effect of echinops lasiolepis extract on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (pbmcs) proliferation and interferon (ifn)-γ secretion. materials and methods: pbmcs were obtained from three healthy volunteers and cultured in presence of echinops lasiolepis methanol extract in different concentrations of 0.1, 1, 10, 100 and 200 μg/ml. lipopolysacharide (lps) and phytohaemagglutinin (pha) were considered as mitogen. brdu cell proliferation assay was used to determine cell proliferation. the concentration of ifn-γ in the pbmcs supernatant was determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. results: most concentrations of echinops lasiolepis methanol extract showed inhibitory effect on pbmcs proliferation. there were significant differences between the concentrations of 200, 1 and 0.1 μg/ml (p<0.05). the optimum proliferation (30.66±24.67%) was obtained at concentration 1 μg/ml. the pbmcs supernatant ifn-γ concentrations in extract treated group without pha and lps and in pha activated group were not significantly different. conclusion: our findings indicated that echinops lasiolepis extract has immunomodulating activity which may be potentialy to used as an immunotherapy agent.