Banafshe Abadi - Herbal and Traditional Medicines Research Center, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. Brain Cancer Research Core, Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), Kerman, Iran
Jahangir Abdesheikhi - Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
Farnaz Sedghy - Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
Merat Mahmoodi - Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
Hossein Fallah - Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran

Objective: Silibinin has exhibited antitumor activities. However, there are few reports about the immunomodulatory properties of silibinin on T lymphocyte function in the tumor microenvironment. Here, we determined the effects of silibinin on T cells of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), cultivated alone or with a human cell line of glioblastoma (U-۸۷ MG).Materials and Methods: The proliferation of T lymphocytes was assessed by MTT test in the presence of silibinin (۱۵ and ۴۵ µM). Also, total antioxidant capacity (TAC), the activity of superoxide dismutase-۳ (SOD۳), and the levels of two cytokines interferon gamma (IFN-γ) and tumor growth beta (TGF-β) were compared between treated and untreated PBMCs alone or co-cultured with U-۸۷ cells.Results: According to our results, silibinin raised the TAC levels and SOD۳ activity in the PBMCs and in the co-culture condition. Moreover, silibinin-treated PBMCs showed higher IFN-γ levels and lower TGF-β levels. Interestingly, silibinin protected PBMCs against the U-۸۷-induced suppression.Conclusion: Altogether, these results proposed the immunomodulatory potential of silibinin on T cells of PBMCs, as well as its partially protective effects on PBMCs against the suppression induced by U-۸۷ MG cells.

Silibinin, Glioblastoma, IFN-γ, TGF-β, Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs)