Maturation of Mouse Bone Marrow Dendritic Cells Induced by Saposhnikovia Divaricate Polysaccharides (SDPs)

SDPs, acidic polysaccharides, identified by Japanese in 1989, come from unstemming dried root of Saposhnikovia divaricate (Trucz) Schischk. Every increasing document has proven that SDPs could exert significant effect on up- regulation of immune cells and suppression of tumor growth. In this study we investigated the effect of SDPson phenotypic and functional maturation of murine bone marrow dendritic cell (BMDCs) systematically. The phenotypic maturation of BMDCs was checked by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), flow cytometry (FCM), and functional maturation of BMDCs was confirmed by FITC-dextran test for phagocytosis, measurement of acid phosphatase (ACP) activity, and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for production of cytokines. We discovered that SDPs up-regulated the expression of key signal molecules of CD80, CD83, CD86,CD40 and MHC II on the surface of BMDCs, down-regulated phagocytosis activity of BMDCs, increased secretion of IL-12 and TNF-α by BMDCs. It is therefore summarized that SDPs could effectively boost maturation of BMDCs. Our results suggest that SDPs could be used as an effective booster in immune handicapped cases such as cancer patients and in the field of vaccine preparation as an adjuvant.