CHEMICAL AND PHARMACOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF SELECTED MEDICINAL PLANT SPECIES FROM GENUS PREMNA AND THEIR IMMUNOMODULATORY POTENTIALS

Abstract

Epidemiological data today show an increase in immune diseases; hence increasing awareness to maintain and increase the body's immunity is essential. Immunomodulators are substances that improve the human immune system by stimulating, inhibiting, or regulating components in the immune system. Plants produce secondary metabolites which provide beneficial effects on human health, including immunomodulatory properties. Natural immunomodulators can be used to minimize side effects and toxicity compared to synthetic materials because using synthetic immunomodulators may result undesirable side effects, such as pulmonary toxicity, myelosuppression, alopecia, and nephrotoxicity. Besides that, using plants as medicine is safer to use, more effective against a wide spectrum of pathogens, and relatively cheaper than synthetic medicine. Some of the medicinal plants which have immunomodulatory properties belong to the genus Premna from Lamiaceae. Alkaloids, flavonoids, phenolics, saponins, terpenoids, polysaccharides, and fatty acids supported the pharmacological effect of Premna sp. as immunomodulatory agent. The present work reviews some species in genus Premna, which were the subject of literature search based on major scientific databases, including PubMed, Elsevier, SpringerLink, Science Direct, Scopus, Mendeley, and Google Scholar. This review presents a series of selected plants from genus Premna sp. including their chemical and pharmacological properties as well as immunomodulatory potential.