Improvement of Therapeutic Efficacy of Oral Immunotherapy in Combination with Regulatory T Cell-Inducer Kakkonto in a Murine Food Allergy Model

PLoS One. 2017 Jan 20;12(1):e0170577. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0170577. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Oral immunotherapy (OIT) has been considered a promising approach for food allergies (FAs). However, the current OIT strategy is limited in terms of the long-term efficacy and safety. We have previously demonstrated that kakkonto, a traditional Japanese herbal medicine, suppresses the occurrence of allergic symptoms in a murine model of ovalbumin (OVA)-induced FA, which is attributed to the induction of the Foxp3+ CD4+ regulatory T cells. In this study, we established an OIT model using the FA mice with already established allergic symptoms and determined whether kakkonto could improve the efficacy of OIT. The OIT method consisted of initially administrating a very small amount of OVA and slowly increasing the amount. Allergic symptoms decreased in the OIT-treated FA mice. OIT significantly downregulated Th2 immune response-related gene expression in the FA mouse colon, and decreased the level of mouse mast cell protease-1, a marker of mast cell degranulation in the FA mouse plasma. Moreover, the concomitant use of kakkonto significantly enhanced the effectiveness of OIT on the allergic symptoms, and the combination therapy further suppressed the Th2 immune responses and the mast cell degranulation. In addition, OIT significantly increased the population of Foxp3+ CD4+ regulatory T cells in the FA mouse colon, and this population was further increased by OIT in combination with kakkonto. Furthermore, the combined therapy with kakkonto reduced the expression of RA-degrading enzyme CYP26B1 mRNA in the FA mouse colon. These findings indicated that the combination of OIT with kakkonto represents a promising approach for FA treatment.

MeSH terms

  • Administration, Oral
  • Animals
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Drugs, Chinese Herbal / therapeutic use*
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
  • Flow Cytometry
  • Food Hypersensitivity / therapy*
  • Immunotherapy / methods*
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Mucous Membrane / drug effects
  • Mucous Membrane / metabolism
  • Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / drug effects*
  • T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / physiology
  • Th2 Cells / drug effects
  • Th2 Cells / metabolism
  • Treatment Outcome

Substances

  • Drugs, Chinese Herbal
  • kakkon-to

Grants and funding

This research was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan to T. Yamamoto (No. JP16K09234) (https://www.jsps.go.jp/j-grantsinaid/index.html) and by a Grant-in-Aid for the Cooperative Research Project from Joint Usage/Research Center (Joint Usage/Research Center for Science-Based Natural Medicine) Institute of Natural Medicine, University of Toyama in 2015 and 2012 to T. Yamamoto (http://www.inm.u-toyama.ac.jp/jp/collabo/hub_index.html). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.