Tehranolide named as new type of a
sesquiterpene lactone with an endoperoxide group which purified from Artemisia diffusa and having similar structure to
Artemisinin.
Tehranolide is hypothesized to possess effects akin to
Artemisinin, which is active against
cancer cells. In the present research we emphasized on the direct correlation between the
tumor sizes, immune response; including cytokin network, T regulatory cells and
Tehranolide intraperitoneally injected
Tehranolide. In this study,
Tehranolide was purified from Artemisia difussa. First we evaluated the effects of
Tehranolide on cell growth inhibition (in vitro) by MTT assay and second investigated the immune responses, these include measuring
tumor growth in the female Balb/c mice transplanted with spontaneous mouse mammary
tumor and treated with
Tehranolide, splenocyte proliferation detected by using the
BrdU kit, measurement of
cytokine profile by ELISA and analysis of T-lymphocytes subpopulation in spleen by Flow cytometry. Our results showed a significant (p<0.05) decrease in the
tumor volume and the level of
IL-4 in the animals treated with
Tehranolide, compared to untreated group. In addition, a significant (p<0.05) increase in the lymphocytes proliferation and the level of IFN-gamma in the animals treated with
Tehranolide in comparison with control group. Furthermore, we regulate the regulatory T cells in order to improve the outcome of
cancer immunotherapy. The measurement of splenic CD4(+)CD25(+)Foxp3(+) T lymphocytes indicated that
Tehranolide significantly (p<0.05) decreased the number of these lymphocytes. These findings show that the use of
Tehranolide molecule represents a novel strategy with major suggestions for
cancer therapy approaches.