Toll-like receptor 4-mediated immunoregulation by the aqueous extract of Mori Fructus

The aqueous extract of Mori Fructus (MF) exerts a change of phenotype and a cytoprotective effect in macrophages. The present study was carried out to investigate the immunomodulating activity of MF on the expression of nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), co-stimulatory molecules and also interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) in macrophages and splenocytes. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is a promising molecular target for immunemodulating drugs. It was hypothesized that one possible upstream signaling pathway leading to immunoregulation of MF may be mediated by TLRs. Multiple signaling molecules (NF-κB, ERK1/2, p38 and JNK) of the TLR4 signaling pathway were also detected. It was found that MF increased NO production and TNF-α secretion in RAW 264.7 and peritoneal macrophages, co-stimulatory molecules expression in peritoneal macrophages and IFN-γ expression in splenocytes. Further studies indicated that MF could significantly induce the phosphorylation of signal molecules of MAPKs and the degradation of IκBα which finally led to the activation and nuclear translocation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) for the target gene expression. All those notions disclosed that the aqueous extract MF is a new TLR4 activator, which induces a Th1 immune response as a consequence of induction of cytokines secretion, especially TNF-α and IFN-γ.