Bromelain Modulates the Immune Function Against Allergic Airway Disease

By Kyle J. Norton

Inflammation is a natural reaction of the immune system which protects our body against the stimuli of invasive pathogens.

Acute inflammation is a result of the immune white blood cell response to tissue damage or injury by stimulating the production of proinflammatory cytokines during the acute phase of infection.

Some researchers that the immune has evolved over thousands of year to destroy the foreigner pathogens in specific time within 3 -8 weeks, otherwise, it will adapt to the change, a leading cause of chronic inflammation

Allergic airway inflammation is an abnormal reaction of the immune system towards unharmfully common and environmental factors, such as pollen grains or dust mites. 

Most common diseases associated with allergic airway inflammation are 

* Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting the airway of the lung with recurring symptoms, such as wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and coughing. The disease affects people of all ages, and mostly starts during childhood.

*Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the third leading cause of death in the US can be classified into

** Emphysema casued by damage to tissues of the air sacs (alveoli) in the lungs is a type of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)associated with a long term and progressive condition cause of shortness of breath but depending to the stage of lung function.

** Chronic bronchitis is a chronic inflammation of the lung’s bronchi that causes the increased production of mucus in the lung induced symptoms of difficulty breathing.

Bromelain, a proteolytic enzyme found in pineapples (Ananas comosus) has been used in traditional medicine as an inflammatory agent and to treat pains, strains, and muscle aches and pains and ease back pain and chronic joint pain, skin diseases, etc.

On finding a potential compound for the treatment of diseases associated with airway inflammation, researchers examined the effect of bromelain effect on reduced inflammation of preexisting asthma via ovalbumin (OVA)-induced murine model of allergic airway disease (AAD).

The study included sensitized female C57BL/6J mice received phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) with intraperitoneal OVA/alum and then challenged them with OVA aerosolization for 10 consecutive days. However, on day 4, daily doses of PBS was administrated to the control group (n = 10) and bromelain (6mg/kg) in PBS to the bromelain (intervention) group (n = 10).

According to the tested analysis, bromelain treatment of AAD mice (bromelain group) exerted a significant anti-inflammatory activity observed by the reduced BAL total leukocytes (P < .05), eosinophils (P < .05), and cellular infiltrates, compared to the control group.

Futhermore, the bromelain treatment group also significantly reduced BAL CD4+ and CD8+ T cells associated with inflammatory progression without affecting cell numbers in the spleen or hilar lymph node.

Levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukins IL-4, IL-12, IL-17, as well as IFN-α in the serum of bromelain-treated animals were also reduced compared to control.

More precisely, bromelain inhibited the allergic airway inflammatory disease through modulating the immune responses and inhibiting the expression of a protein associated with pro-inflammation.

Moreover, on mice sensitized with intraperitoneal (i.p.) OVA/alum and challenged with daily OVA aerosols followed by the treatment of either saline, 2 or 6 mg/kg bromelain, twice daily for four consecutive days.

Bromelain treatment of AAD mice showed a similar effect as the aforementioned study by reducing total BAL leukocytes, eosinophils, CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes, CD4+/CD8+ T cell ratio, and IL-13, compared to saline group.

Based on the findings, some researchers suggested that bromelain may have similar effects in the treatment of human asthma and hypersensitivity disorders.

Taken altogether, bromelain may be considered a remedy for the prevention and treatment of allergic airway disease, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of bromelain in the form of supplement should be taken with extreme care to prevent overdose acute liver toxicity.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) Bromelain limits airway inflammation in an ovalbumin-induced murine model of established asthma by Secor ER Jr1, Shah SJ, Guernsey LA, Schramm CM, Thrall RS. (PubMed)
(2) Bromelain exerts anti-inflammatory effects in an ovalbumin-induced murine model of allergic airway disease by Secor ER Jr1, Carson WF 4th, Cloutier MM, Guernsey LA, Schramm CM, Wu CA, Thrall RS. (PubMed)