Out-licensing

Elucidation of Immunomodulatory Phytocompounds via a Novel, Highly Efficient Screening Assay

Introduction/Background

Phytocompounds are compounds that may provide health benefits beyond nutritional requirements. Phytocompounds occur naturally in foods, and to date more than 100,000 of them have been isolated and identified. Originally classified as vitamins, many phytocompounds are now classified by their molecular structure and by their protective functions in the body.

Aims/Hypothesis

Scientists at Academia Sinica are focusing on the identification of immunomodulatory phytocompounds from herbal medicines that are reported to modulate immunity.

Research

To assess the function of herbal medicines (eg, Echinacea, Bidens) in regulating immunity, we use a combination of biochemistry, cellular immunology, molecular biology and mouse models to study the role of those herbs in modulating T cell functions. The present invention provides a highly efficient assay system, ie, T cell-based transcription assay, for screening and identification of immunomodulatory plant extracts and phytocompounds. Of 46 herbal plants, 16 species showed a stimulation for T cells and 2 species showed an inhibition for T cells. These data reflect the feasibility of this platform in screening immunomodulatory compounds.

Conclusion

We have developed a novel platform to screen for immunomodulatory phytocompounds from herbal medicines.

Relevance/Opportunity

This screen can lead to the development of immunomodulatory botanical drugs or phytochemicals for pharmaceutical or biotech companies. Please enquire if you are interested in forming licensing or codevelopment partnerships quoting reference no. 14A-920528.

Preclinical