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The concept of “boosting” your immune system doesn’t hold any scientific meaning whatsoever. However, scientifically addressing, the terminology “Immunomodulator” is preferable over “immune boosters”. Immunomodulation can either invoke an Immunostimulatory or an immunosuppressant action. The concept of “boosting” a person’s immune system would, presumably, involve making these immune responses more active, or stronger. However, one would not want to do that. Hyper response of the immune system results in chronic inflammation which is counterproductive to overall health. Therefore immunity levels need to be maintained or modulated for optimal response-Not too less, not too much. Because these responses are destructive, it is crucial that they be made only in response to molecules that are foreign to the host and not to the molecules of the host itself. The ability to distinguish what is foreign from what is self in this way is a fundamental feature of the adaptive immune system. Occasionally, the system fails to make this distinction and reacts destructively against the host’s own molecules. Such autoimmune diseases can be fatal. The health effect of imbalances in the immune system is explained in the image above.

Botanical Ingredients and Immunity

Understanding the action of botanical ingredients on immune responses would call for a brief discussion on the components of the immune system. Natural products otherwise referred to as botanical ingredients or phyto-pharmaceuticals have been discovered to play an important role in the regulation of immune function. They control the immune system in a pleiotropic manner (stimulation of genetic action in a cascading effect) and participate in various processes of the adaptive/innate immunity. The function of adaptive immune responses is to destroy invading pathogens and any toxic molecules they produce. In humoral immune responses of the adaptive system, B-cells (bone marrow derived) are activated to secrete antibodies, called immunoglobulins. The antibodies circulate in the bloodstream and permeate the other body fluids, where they bind specifically to the foreign antigen that stimulated their production. Binding of antibody inactivates viruses and microbial toxins (such as tetanus toxin or diphtheria toxin) by blocking their ability to bind to receptors on host cells. Antibody binding also marks invading pathogens for destruction, mainly by making it easier for phagocytic cells of the innate immune system to ingest them. In cell-mediated immune responses, activated T-cells (thymus derived) react directly against a foreign antigen that is presented to them on the surface of a host cell. The T-cell, for example, might kill a virus-infected host cell that has viral antigens on its surface, thereby eliminating the infected cell before the virus has had a chance to replicate. In other cases, the T-cell produces signal molecules that activate macrophages to destroy the invading microbes. So botanical ingredients have stimulatory effect on humoral and cell-mediated immune response, stimulate humoral response by acting at various levels of immune mechanism such as antibody production, release of mediators of hypersensitivity reactions and tissue responses to these mediators in the target organs. Therefore, natural products have great potential as targeted immune modulators. In fact, based on proper understanding of various immunomodulatory activities of each ingredient, lead immunomodulatory molecules for future therapeutic use can be designed.

Immunomodulation Through Botanical Ingredients – Science or Myth ?

The current situation relating to the Covid-19 viral epidemic has stimulated research to develop plant-derived natural products or botanical ingredients as potent and safer leads to act as immunomodulators. In recent years, use of medicinal plants is gaining wide recognition due to their versatility, safety, and cost-effectiveness. Newer generation of botanical ingredients have been developed and marketed to modulate the complex immune process in such a way so as to prevent the infection rather than treatment or cure of the disease. However, it must be noted that the immune system carries out its important defensive function in intimate and coordinated interaction with the nervous and endocrine systems. In addition, it is generally recognized that a great effort should be placed on the standardization of methods used to study immune modulation by Botanical ingredients. In terms of formulations, this also includes a standardization of the preparations themselves. One of the greatest inconsistencies of clinical research related to immunomodulatory botanical ingredients are caused by the lack of quality control of the source materials used. Formulations based on botanical ingredients may be therefore recommended for use as positive immunomodulators. There are several botanical products with potential therapeutic applications because of their high efficacy, low cost and low toxicity.

References are available on demand and constitute internal knowledge repository of Consytel Life Sciences Pvt Ltd.