Epidemiological studies demonstrate that the
Mediterranean diet, in which
olive oil is the major source of fat, reduces the risk of
coronary heart disease and
cancer. It has been proposed that the beneficial effects of
olive oil not only depend on
oleic acid, but are also associated with minor polar compounds (MPC). A positive correlation between
inflammation and
cardiovascular diseases has long been described, monocyte/macrophages and
NF-kappaB playing a pivotal role. The aim of this work was to investigate the effects of an extra-virgin
olive oil extract (MPC-OOE), particularly rich in MPC and prepared by some of us, on
NF-kappaB translocation in monocytes and monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) isolated from healthy volunteers. In a concentration-dependent manner, MPC-OOE inhibited p50 and p65
NF-kappaB translocation in both un-stimulated and
phorbol-myristate acetate (PMA)-challenged cells, being particularly effective on the p50 subunit. Interestingly, this effect occurred at concentrations found in human plasma after nutritional ingestion of virgin
olive oil and was quantitatively similar to the effect exerted by
ciglitazone, a
PPAR-gamma ligand. However, MPC-OOE did not affect
PPAR-gamma expression in monocytes and MDM. These data provide further evidence of the beneficial effects of extra-virgin
olive oil by indicating its ability to inhibit
NF-kappaB activation in human monocyte/macrophages.