An orally active immune adjuvant prepared from cones of Pinus sylvestris, enhances the proliferative phase of a primary T cell response.

Background: We have previously demonstrated that an alkaline extract of shredded pinecones yields a polyphenylpropanoid polysaccharide complex (PPC) that functions as an orally active immune adjuvant. Specifically, oral PPC can boost the number of antigen-specific memory CD8+ T cells generated in response to a variety of vaccine types (DNA, protein, and dendritic cell) and bias the response towards one that is predominately a T helper 1 type.

Methods: An immune response was initiated by intraperitoneal injection of mice with Staphylococcus enterotoxin B (SEB).

Dendritic cell differentiation and tumor cell apoptosis induced by components of a poly-phenylpropanoid polysaccharide complex.

Background: As part of the indigenous folk medicine in Japan, aqueous extracts of pine cones have been used for over a century to treat cancer and other illnesses and references to their use can be found in ancient Greek literature. However, the mechanisms by which such extracts work are largely unknown.

Materials And Methods: Murine bone marrow (BM)-derived dendritic cells (DCs) and human monocyte U937 cells were treated in vitro with an extract prepared from pine cones (termed poly-phenylpropanoid polysaccharide complex, PPC).