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Article|04 May 2016|OPEN
Pro-inflammatory effects of a litchi protein extract in murine RAW264.7 macrophages
Xiaoli Wang1 , Xiaorong Hu2 , Huiqing Yan1 , Zhaocheng Ma1 , and Xiuxin Deng,1
1Key Laboratory of Horticultural Plant Biology, College of Horticulture and Forestry Sciences, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China
2Department of Cardiology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430070, China
*Corresponding author. E-mail: mzhaocheng@mail.hzau.edu.cn

Horticulture Research 3,
Article number: 17 (2016)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/hortres.2016.17
Views: 987

Received: 22 Sep 2015
Revised: 09 Mar 2016
Accepted: 20 Mar 2016
Published online: 04 May 2016

Abstract

It has been observed that the consumption of litchi often causes symptoms characterized by itching or sore throat, gum swelling, oral cavity ulcers and even fever and inflammation, which significantly impair the quality of life of a large population. Using the RAW264.7 cell line, a step-by-step strategy was used to screen for the components in litchi fruits that elicited adverse reactions. The adverse reaction fractions were identified by mass spectrometry and analyzed using the SMART program, and a sequence alignment of the homologous proteins was performed. MTT tests were used to determine the cytotoxicity of a litchi protein extract in RAW264.7 macrophages, and real-time PCR was applied to analyze the expression of inflammatory genes in the RAW264.7 cells treated with lipopolysaccharide or the litchi protein extract. The results showed that the litchi water-soluble protein extract could increase the production of the pro-inflammatory mediators IL-1β, iNOS and COX-2, and the anti-inflammatory mediator HO-1 in the RAW264.7 cell line. The 14-3-3-like proteins GF14 lambda, GF14 omega and GF14 upsilon were likely the candidate proteins that caused the adverse effects.