AI Article Synopsis
- - The paper discusses how the plant Vernonia amygdalina Del. is traditionally used for various health issues, particularly parasitic infections, in both humans and primates.
- - Researchers accidentally found that an extract from this plant can bind to and inhibit the activity of TGFβ1, a protein involved in many infectious diseases.
- - The binding agent responsible for this effect was identified as chlorophyll a-b binding protein AB96, marking this as the first known plant-derived protein capable of neutralizing cytokines and encouraging future research in this area.
Article Abstract
The discovery of compounds and proteins from plants has greatly contributed to modern medicine. Vernonia amygdalina Del. (Compositae) is used by humans and primates for a variety of conditions including parasitic infection. This paper describes the serendipitous discovery that V. amygdalina extract was able to bind to, and functionally inhibit, active TGFβ1. The binding agent was isolated and identified as chlorophyll a-b binding protein AB96. Given that active TGFβ1 contributes to the pathology of many infectious diseases, inhibiting these processes may explain some of the benefits associated with the ingestion of this species. This is the first plant-derived cytokine-neutralizing protein to be described and paves the way for further such discoveries.
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Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8032758 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-87454-x | DOI Listing |
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