Editorial Natural Immunomodulatorsdownloads.hindawi.com/journals/jir/2017/7529408.pdf · Editorial Natural Immunomodulators D. Ortuño-Sahagún,1 K. Zänker,2 A. K. S. Rawat,3 S

EditorialNatural Immunomodulators

D. Ortuño-Sahagún,1 K. Zänker,2 A. K. S. Rawat,3 S. V. Kaveri,4 and P. Hegde4

1Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias Biomédicas (IICB), CUCS, Universidad de Guadalajara, Guadalajara, JAL, Mexico2Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany3National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India4Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), Paris, France

Correspondence should be addressed to D. Ortuño-Sahagún; [email protected] P. Hegde; [email protected]

Received 9 October 2017; Accepted 10 October 2017; Published 14 December 2017

Copyright © 2017 D. Ortuño-Sahagún et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative CommonsAttribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the originalwork is properly cited.

In this special collection of research results, we present agroup of original works performed by employing naturalcompounds as tools to approach immunomodulation at dif-ferent levels and against different diseases.

Natural compounds have contributed enormously toimmunomodulatory therapeutics. Since ancient times, nat-ural medicines have constituted treatments with minimalside effects. There are thousands of natural compoundsthat are known to influence the immune system by eitheraffecting the functions of immune cells or affecting anti-body secretion to control the infection and to maintainimmune homeostasis. The relevance of this researchwould be crucial to the search for better treatments, bothto complement those that already exist and to developnew strategies for the prevention and treatment ofimmune-related diseases. Therefore, it is interesting todissect the molecular mechanisms of the immunomodula-tory effects of natural compounds and to discover novelpromising candidates that can be used in the futureimmunotherapeutic strategies.

Immunomodulation is a key issue in tissue homeostasisfor the physiological stability of organisms. Consequently, itis important to search for immunoregulators, such as thosederived from natural immunomodulators, with less severeside effects. This is the case for the work of Y.-H. Chenget al. in which the authors demonstrate Th-1 selectiveimmunomodulatory activity for crude leaf extracts fromNeolitsea spp., which contains phytochemicals meritingfurther research as potentials for development as selective

immunomodulators. Additionally, M. O. Arruda et al.reported the modulatory activity ofMentha piperita (pepper-mint) leaf hydroalcoholic extract on macrophages, which areessential cells against bacterial infection, by attenuating theiroxidative stress and improving their survival. Furthermore,S. Lewicki et al. explored the immunomodulatory proper-ties of the Rhodiola kirilowii aqueous extract to stimulateinnate immunity in an attempt to avoid, or to limit, theexcessive use of antibiotics during pregnancy and lactation,which has been associated with a risk for immune systemdevelopmental disorders.

The immune system encounters one of its great chal-lenges against cancer. In the beginning, cell proliferationdysregulations begin in a small microenvironment, anddistinct immune cell populations are recruited to thevicinity of tumor [1], thus the high relevance of cancerimmunotherapy and the need to conduct exploration fornew natural compounds, or derived compounds, withantitumor properties, as that which the aqueous extractof Viscum album exhibits in the work presented byR. M. Stammer et al. against alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma.In addition, J.-T. Yang et al. demonstrated that propylgallate, a phytochemical polyphenolic compound, canaffect migration of malignant glioma cells through inhibi-tion of ROS and the NF-κB pathway.

Cytokines and chemokines regulate immune responsesby signaling, through membrane receptors, whose signalingpathways can be evaded or mimicked by viruses [2]. Conse-quently, research on natural compounds that can prevent,

HindawiJournal of Immunology ResearchVolume 2017, Article ID 7529408, 2 pageshttps://doi.org/10.1155/2017/7529408

https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/7529408

reduce, or counter viral infective process acquires relevance,in diseases such as that presented by S. Feustel et al. in whichan extract of Moringa oleifera exhibits protective effectsagainst hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, particularly forgenotypes C and H.

The largest organ in the human body is the skin, and itrepresents the greatest upon which the immune system needsto act. Therefore, an imbalance or lack of adjustment ofinnate or adaptative immunity leads to immune diseases.Three of the works presented herein approach immunitymodulation in this organ’s epithelium, dealing with atopicdermatitis and psoriasis.

Atopic dermatitis is not a life-threatening disease; how-ever, it severely affects patients’ quality of life. Again, it isderived from immune-response deregulation and with anundefined etiology to date. Recently, air pollutants have beeninvolved as inductive factors [3]; therefore, it became relevantto find some natural elements that can counteract thispathology, as F. C. Muñoz et al. present in their results onglycomacropeptide, a dairy bioactive peptide derived frommilk, κ-casein, which possesses prebiotic, anti-inflammatory,and immunoregulatory properties that can lead to prophy-lactic and therapeutic actions.

Likewise, psoriasis is the most common type of chronicinflammatory dermatosis, derived from a disorder of theimmune system. Several genetic-susceptibility factors havebeen discovered to be involved in this disease [4]. However,their treatment comprises a search for compounds able toprevent or thwart its effects. Here, C.-Y. Lai et al. present acomprehensive review focusing on the natural modulatorsable to inhibit endosomal TLR activation that can representcandidate drugs for developing novel treatment options forpsoriasis. In addition, S. J. Kim et al. revealed promissoryexperimental results with the use of the Euphorbia kansuimethanol extract, which ameliorates the symptoms of psori-asis through inhibition of Th17 differentiation and dendriticcell activation.

Undoubtedly, there remains much more work to be done,but this avenue of natural immunomodulators is one highlypromissory pathway to continue to explore and investigate.Many more surprises are awaiting to be discovered in theprevention and treatment of inflammatory and immune-regulated diseases. In the future, an extensive investigationis required with respect to their mechanisms of action atthe systemic, cellular, and molecular levels and extension toa broad spectrum clinical trial. Given the multiple biologicaleffects of natural compounds, it is exceedingly interesting todesign future therapeutic strategies for inflammatory pathol-ogies and malignant diseases with a synergistic combinationof natural products together and various conventional thera-pies. We hope that researchers enjoy the analysis of thisspecial issue.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the authors for having confidencein us with regard to this initiative and for their commit-ment to this proposal, by sending their manuscripts andsharing their leading-edge research data and stimulating

ideas. We are also in debt and grateful to all of thereviewers for their generously devoted time and highlyvaluable insights.

D. Ortuño-SahagúnK. Zänker

A. K. S. RawatS. V. Kaveri

P. Hegde

References

[1] N. Nagarsheth, M. S. Wicha, and W. Zou, “Chemokines in thecancer microenvironment and their relevance in cancer immu-notherapy,” Nature Reviews Immunology, vol. 17, no. 9,pp. 559–572, 2017.

[2] J. Felix and S. N. Savvides, “Mechanisms of immunomodula-tion by mammalian and viral decoy receptors: insights fromstructures,” Nature Reviews Immunology, vol. 17, no. 2,pp. 112–129, 2017.

[3] Y. Bordon, “Allergy: pollutants drive atopic dermatitis,” NatureReviews Immunology, vol. 17, no. 1, p. 1, 2017.

[4] A. M. Bowcock and J. G. Krueger, “Getting under the skin: theimmunogenetics of psoriasis,” Nature Reviews Immunology,vol. 5, no. 9, pp. 699–711, 2005.

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Editorial Natural Immunomodulatorsdownloads.hindawi.com/journals/jir/2017/7529408.pdf · Editorial Natural Immunomodulators D. Ortuño-Sahagún,1 K. Zänker,2 A. K. S. Rawat,3 S