New immuno-active principles for optimizing Echinacea

描述（由申请人提供）：紫锥菊是美国草药市场上应用最广泛的植物。这些产品在使用的物种、植物部分和配方方面差异很大。由于这些不同的产品可能具有明显不同的化学成分，因此可以预期它们会表现出不同的药理作用。这种程度的复杂性很可能导致解释迄今为止在这些不同制剂上进行的临床试验的问题。它还强调了在不同制剂中确定临床相关化合物的重要性，以便为消费者市场和临床试验中使用生产标准化的一致产品。强有力的初步证据表明，用有机溶剂提取的未知化合物存在于紫锥菊物种中，它们是单核细胞功能的有效激活剂、增强剂和抑制剂。确定这些化合物与紫锥菊材料治疗效果的相关性将最终导致优化和更适当标准化产品的开发。从长远来看，这项研究可以通过提供最适合特定健康问题的紫锥菊产品类型的信息，更直接地影响人类健康。这些化合物将被表征，并确定其与紫锥菊药理活性的相关性，如下所示：采用NF-kappa B序列驱动的荧光素酶报告基因的人类单核细胞测试系统将用于指导对这三种活性负责的化合物的表征。2. 克隆的叶黄（离体繁殖）将被选择为这些活性的优势表达只有一个。这将有助于隔离，因为它们是一致和无限的材料来源。3. 确定提取物改变单核细胞活化的能力是否与这些新特征的化合物在不同植物部位的水平相关，如鹅毛叶、紫荆和苍白。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Echinacea species represent the most widely used botanical in the United States herbal market. These products vary considerably with respect to the species used, the plant part, and the formulation. Since these different products can have distinctly different chemistries, it would be expected that they would exhibit different pharmacological effects. This level of complexity most likely contributes to the problem of interpreting clinical trials performed to date on these different preparations. It also underscores the importance of identifying the clinically relevant compounds within the different preparations so that standardized consistent products could be produced for the consumer market and for use in clinical trials.Strong preliminary evidence is presented that unknown compounds, extractable with organic solvents, exist within Echinacea species that are potent activators, enhancers and suppressors of monocyte function. Determining the relevance of these compounds to the therapeutic efficacy of Echinacea material will ultimately lead to the development of optimized and more appropriately standardized products. In the longterm, this research could more directly influence human health by providing information on the types of Echinacea products most appropriate for specific health concerns. These compounds will be characterized, and their relevance to the pharmacological activity of Echinacea determined, as follows: 1. A human monocyte test system, employing a luciferase reporter gene driven by NF-kappa B sequences, will be used to guide the characterization of the compounds responsible for these three activities. 2. Cloned E. angustifolia plants (propagated in vitro) will be selected for predominant expression of only one of these activities. This will facilitate isolation since they represent a consistent and unlimited source of material. 3. Determine whether the extract's ability to modify monocyte activation correlates with the levels of these newly characterized compounds within the various plant parts of E. angustifolia, E. purpurea, and E. pallida.