Phytochemical Alliin Processes the Immunomodulatory Effect

By Kyle J. Norton

The immunomodulatory effect is an action in which the immune function is modulated to the needs of the body.

The immune system included the thymus and bone marrow, as well as secondary lymphatic tissues including spleen, tonsils, lymph vessels, lymph nodes, adenoids, skin, and liver, is the body's defense against infectious organisms and foreign invaders.

In the acute phase of infection, the immune macrophages, the first line of defense stimulates the production of blood palette to cover the wound or injury and pro-inflammatory cytokines to the site of infection to kill off pathogens before they can enter the body to multiply.

Most cases of infection are stopped at the acute phase, depending on the size and penetration of the wound.

However, if the immune system for whatever reason such as in people with a weakened immune system can not destroy the foreign invaders in the set period of time (3-8 weeks), it will adapt to the new change, leading to chronic low-grade inflammation.

Low-grade inflammation over time has been found to destroy cells and tissues in the affected area or organ, inducing chronic inflammatory disease, including diabetes, arthritis, and cardiovascular disease.

Out of many low-grade inflammatory risk factors, some researchers suggested that an unhealthy diet may be one of the major culprits involved in facilitating the onset of the diseases.

Dr. Casas R, Sacanella E, the lead scientist wrote, "Dietary patterns high in refined starches, sugar, and saturated and trans-fatty acids, poor in natural antioxidants and fiber from fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and poor in omega-3 fatty acids may cause an activation of the innate immune system, most likely by excessive production of proinflammatory cytokines associated with a reduced production of anti-inflammatory cytokines".

In other words, if you follow the diet pattern of a high-fat diet, you are at a higher risk of low-grade inflammatory disease, compared to those who follow the diet pattern of the Mediterranean diet.

Alliin (S-allyl-L-cysteine-S-oxide) is a phytochemical compound sulfoxide,. a derivative of the amino acid cysteine, belongings to the class of sulfur compounds, found abundantly in fresh garlic and onion.

With an aim to find a natural ingredient with immunomodulatory activity, researchers examined the effect of the garlic derivative alliin, on the mitogen-induced peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) proliferation and cytokine production in vitro.

Before treated with garlic derivative alliin, pokeweed mitogen (PWM) injection induced cell proliferation, production of proinflammatory cytokines, including IL-1beta and TNF-alpha.

Furthermore, pokeweed mitogen (PWM) treated group also showed reduced levels of both percentage of phagocyting cells and number of latex particles associated with the immune functions of phagocytosis.

Administration of garlic derivative alliin not only decreased the production of proinflammatory cytokines induced by pokeweed mitogen (PWM) but also improved the levels of antioxidant enzymes.

In other words, alliin exerted an immunomodulatory effect on the peripheral blood cells in vitro.

In order to reveal more information of alliin effect on the immune system, researchers investigated whether different plant-derived components with similar anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory function such as quercetin and alliin in traditional Asian diet consumed in an alternate style cooperatively affect health including the growth of host and the status of the gut microbiota and colonic epithelial immunity.

Compared to the traditional Asian diet significantly increased the rat body weight and reshaped the gut microbiota composition by significantly increased the relative abundance of fecal Firmicutes and Cyanobacteria but decreased that of Bacteroidetes (P < 0.05) and increased the relative abundance of Candidatus Arthromitus, Lactococcus, Geobacillus, and Ruminococcus at the genus level that benefits the host's health, the consumption of quercetin and alliin also altered 13 genes expression involved in the KEGG pathways of complement and coagulation cascades and hematopoietic cell lineage to improve the gut immunity.

In other words, the alternate consumption of quercetin and alliin can contribute beneficial metabolic effects by optimizing gut microbiota and altering the immunologic function of colonic epithelial cells.

Taken altogether, alliin may be considered supplements for the immune modulatory activity depending on the body needs, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of alliin 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) Effect of a garlic derivative (alliin) on peripheral blood cell immune responses by Salman H1, Bergman M, Bessler H, Punsky I, Djaldetti M. (PubMed)
(2) The Alternate Consumption of Quercetin and Alliin in the Traditional Asian Diet Reshaped Microbiota and Altered Gene Expression of Colonic Epithelial Cells in Rats by Yu J1, Guo H1, Xie J1, Luo J1, Li Y1, Liu L1, Ou S1, Zhang G1, Peng X. (PubMed)
(3) The immune protective effect of the Mediterranean diet against chronic low-grade inflammatory diseases by Casas R, Sacanella E, Estruch R. (PubMed)