篩選具調節免疫和抗發炎活性之台灣本土中草藥
楊寧蓀
中央研究院
據調查，台灣中草藥市場已達250億元新台幣以上，同時中草藥製成之相關商品已經廣泛地被當作營養補充品或藥品使用。然而目前國內中草藥市場中，許多中草藥植株因氣候、地理位置不同、成本高等因素而不易在台灣栽種，故目前多數中草藥藥材皆由大陸方面輸入。在品管不易掌握情況下，因而時有進口之中草藥材品系不實或含有農藥、重金屬殘留的事件發生。台灣本土產中草藥也正在民間進一步在推廣為使用中，不少藥材常被宣稱具有抗發炎或可調節免疫的療效，且與傳統之中草藥相類似的療效，但其確實”療效”卻常為經驗論，且常被人們所誇大。目前大多仍無現代科學上、客觀、直接及較系統性的實證醫學來加以驗證，因此，若能以西方醫學認可的生技方法進行篩檢台灣重要/常用中草藥之抗發炎能力及增強免疫力的評估，並且進一步了解其免疫調節作用機制，應是推廣台灣本土中草藥之應用上一非常重要的發展策略。本計畫擬將利用系統性分子生物方式初步篩選出具抗發炎或可增強免疫的台灣本土中草藥，將其分類並藉或具有不同生物活性群組由老鼠體內試驗再次篩選驗證，經由多項免疫調控試驗以深入探討中草藥之免疫調控作用機制。本計畫亦將藉由最新重要發現之腫瘤生成調控成因的研究觀點來評估台灣本土中草藥對腫瘤免疫調節之活性，期望藉由本計畫之研究不僅可提供科學上的相關佐證，幫助民眾之食用安全，更希望此研究成果能對於發展台灣本土中草藥產業帶來助益進而提升台灣本土中草藥市場規模及國際市場的價值。
關鍵字：台灣本土中草藥、抗發炎、免疫調節、腫瘤免疫、實證醫學
Define and screen Taiwan’s indigenously grown medicinal plants that confer potent immuno-modulatory and anti-inflammatory bio-activities
Yang Ning-Sun
Traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) in Taiwan are increasingly appreciated and recognized for use in public health cares. It is estimated that the sales of TCM related products are more than 25 billion TWD per year in Taiwan. However, due to the high cost and different agricultural environments, many TCM plants were found as difficult to cultivate in Taiwan. Therefore, most of Taiwan’s TCM are imported from Mainland China but their qualities are often poor, including pesticide or heavy metal contaminations. Recently, Taiwan’s indigenously grown medicinal plants (TIGMPs) are produced for health care use and claimed to confer some TCM efficacies on anti-inflammation or immuno-modulation. However, modern scientific evidences to support their efficacies are limited. This study is designed to address some of these issues. Recently, our laboratories explored the use of cell- and gene-based assay approaches to facilitate the study and characterization of different anti-inflammatory or immuno-modulatory medicinal herbal extracts/ phytocompounds, distinguishing them into distinct classes of potential “phytomedicine”. With various experimental systems that we have developed, we have previously studied the various changes in immune-related gene and protein expression patterns in response to specific medicinal herbal extracts/ phytocompounds. Our results are published in Mol. Pharmacol., Carcinogenesis, Bio. Med. Central., Genomics, eCAM, J. Biol. Chem. and BMC Genomics. With this foundation or our experimental and technological systems, the objective of this study is aimed to employ the tools of systems biology, immunobiology, and molecular biology to define and screen TIGMPs that may confer potent immuno-modulatory and anti-inflammatory bio-activities. First, surrogate bio-markers of inflammation-related activity (such as NF-κB binding, IL-1β and COX-2 promoter activities) will be used for screening the effect of TIGMPs on anti-inflammation or immuno-modulation. Second, mouse skin system will be adopted to confirm the detected activities. Third, the relationship between the maturation of dendritic cells and T cells differentiation will be determined to evaluate the specific immune modulatory effects of test TIGMPs. Fourth, the effects of TIGMPs on myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and tumor stromal cells, known for playing key roles in tumorigenesis, will be analyzed to investigate the anti-tumor activities of TIGMPs. Together, we believe that the project proposed here will provide us with a useful approach for future biotechnology development of TIGMPs in Taiwan.
關鍵字：Taiwan’s indigenously grown medicinal plants、immuno-modulation、anti-inflammation、tumor immunity
