Effects of polysaccharides from Pholiota nameko on maturation of murine bone marrow-derived dendritic cells

This paper studied some structure characters of the Pholiota nameko polysaccharides (PNPS-1), including morphology under SEM and AFM, also the effects of PNPS-1 on the maturation of bone marrow dendritic cells (BMDCs) via concrete changes both inside and outside BMDCs. These impacts on BMDCs were assessed with use of inverted phase contrast microscope for morphology, flow cytometry for key surface molecules, mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) for allogeneic T cells proliferation, and bio-assay and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for cytokine production. We found that PNPS-1 could inhibit phenotypic maturation as evidenced by decreasing expression of CD11c, CD40, CD80, CD83, CD86, and I-A/I-E. Functional maturation inhibition was further confirmed by decreased naive T cell stimulatory activity of BMDCs. Finally, PNPS-1 also stimulated production of more cytokine IL-10 and less IL-12 and TNF-α. These data indicated that PNPS-1 could markedly inhibit the maturation of BMDCs and had potential significant down-regulation immunity.