COMMERCIAL TRADITIONAL IMMUNE BOOSTERS: IMMUNE EFFECTS IN IN VITRO NORMAL AND INFECTION MODELS M Ngcoboa, N Gqalenib a Traditional Medicine Laboratory, School of Nursing and Public Health, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu Natal; b Department of Public Management and Economics, Faculty of Management Sciences, Durban University of Technology INTRODUTION RESULTS (cont…) South Africa is experiencing an increasing number of traditional medicine (TM) preparations which purport to have immune boosting effects. This is largely related to the high prevalence of HIV infections. Most of these traditional immune boosters, if not all, are not well-researched, poorly regulated, may contain adulterated products, and may produce adverse effects (Mills et al., 2005). Over the last fifteen years the safety and efficacy of TM, as well as quality control, have become important concerns for both health authorities and the public (WHO, 2005). We have therefore taken upon ourselves to document the safety and possible mechanisms of action of some these TM products. 1.2 Cell chemotaxis Table 1: Chemotactic effects of non-cytotoxic doses of uMakhonya® and Ihashi in THP-1 monocytes versus the chemokine RANTES. 1.3 Chemokines secretion 1.4 NF-κβ transcriptional activity Chemo-attractant Average chemotaxis Percentage change (%) Chemotaxis media 41777.17 ±7150.38 100 RANTES 49919.23 ±10102.91 119.49* 100 µg/mL uMakhonya® 23695.65 ±6097.31 56.72** 50 µg/mL uMakhonya® 27649.10 ±2761.31 66.18 10 µg/mL uMakhonya® 36456.60 ±2744.87 87.26 100 µg/mL Ihashi 8575.2 ±1018.33   20.53** 16044.85 ±2911.86 38.41** 29222.1 ±5700.95 69.95 OBJECTIVES To evaluate the cytotoxicity of uMakhonya® and Ihashi, commercial TM products, on normal and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulated THP-1 cells. To evaluate the chemotactic effects of these TM products on THP-1 cells. To quantify the effect of these TM products on secretion of chemokines in normal and LPS stimulated THP-1 monocytes. To evaluate the modulation of nuclear factor kappa Beta (NF-κβ) transcriptional activity. Fig. 2: Secretion of 12 different chemokines from THP-1 cells stimulated with LPS from S. typhosa and treated with doses of uMakhonya® and Ihashi. A METHODS Fig. 3: Transcriptional activity of NF-κβ in THP-1 cells normal/LPS stimulated LPS and treated with doses of uMakhonya® and Ihashi. DISCUSSION High doses of the TM products induced significant cytotoxicity (p< 0.05) to monocytes when compared to untreated cells. None cytotoxic doses of these products had a negative effect on cell migration. UMakhonya® and Ihashi induced a significant (p< 0.05) increase in secretion of some chemokines in unstimulated THP-1 cells (data not shown) while the lowest doses (10 µg/mL) of both products caused an increase in some chemokines secretion in LPS stimulated cells. In both unstimulated and LPS-stimulated THP-1 cells the lowest dose of uMakhonya® and the highest dose of Ihashi increased transcriptional activity of NF-κβ RESULTS 1.1 Cell viability CONCLUSION This study showed that uMakhonya® and Ihashi are cytotoxic at high doses, did not show any chemo-attractant effects and induced significant increases in chemokines secretion. Increased transcriptional activity of NF-κβ in treated cells may contribute to increased chemokines secretion. Further studies on these products on animal models are necessary. REFERENCES Fig. 1: Effects of uMakhonya® (A) and Ihashi (B) doses on the cell viability of normal and LPS stimulated THP-1 cells. Both TM induced dose-dependent cytotoxicity in treated cells, with higher doses significantly (p< 0.05) toxic. Mills, E., Cooper, C., Seely, D., Kanfer, I. (2005). African herbal medicines in the treatment of HIV: Hypoxis and Sutherlandia. An overview of evidence and pharmacology. Nutr. J. 4: 19. World Health Organization, (2005). National policy on traditional medicine and regulation of herbal medicines: Report of a WHO global survey.