Evaluation of Immunostimulant Activity and Inhibition of Cytokine Storm Activity of Proprietary Herbal Formulation Virulina®

Abstract

Immunostimulation is the strengthening of the immune system through the induction of non-specific immune responses. Synthetic drugs have harmful side effects, enormous costs, and are ineffectual in controlling several pathological disorders. Therefore, nowadays, herbal immunostimulants have been considered as a superior and less toxic opportunity for the management of disorders as well as their complications. The objective of the current investigation is the formulation of Virulina®-Natural Solutions (VL®-NS) polyherbal formulation and its evaluation for immunostimulant and cytokine storm inhibition activity. The immunostimulant & anti-inflammatory potential of Virulina® were determined by using in-vitro phagocytosis through polymorphonuclear analysis, indicating the invasion of leukocytes. In-vitro cytokine storm inhibitory activity was also performed using mouse macrophage cells (RAW264.7) treated with polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid to test the ability of Virulina® to attenuate the immune responses. The inflammatory responses were evaluated by the endotoxin-lipopolysaccharide (LPS) model following the endotoxin challenges of aggravating the inflammatory mediators (cytokines); thereby, the LPS derived from E. coli as antigen at a dose of 10 mgkg-1, i.p was used for the systemic inflammation. VL®-NS exhibited enhanced phagocytic efficacy at 100 mgml-1 in PMN function test. VL®-NS significantly decreases the expression of a cytokine such as interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α & vascular endothelial growth factor in RAW264.7 cell culture. The increase in LPS-induced cytokine levels in rat serum was dose-dependently & significantly (p<0.05) inhibited by VL®-NS treatment. VL®-NS tend to be potent immunostimulant therapy as a superior and less toxic opportunity for the strengthening of the immune system for the management of several inflammatory disorders.