Conclusion
Taken together, the results discussed herein demonstrated that ESP-SJE could significantly alleviate OVA-induced asthmatic inflammation in a murine model, which might be mediated by the upregulation of Treg in lung tissues that may be induced by the potential modulatory proteins. Therefore, potential proteins in ESP-SJE might be the best candidates to be tested for therapeutic application of asthma, thus pointing out to a possible new therapy for allergic airway inflammation.
Results
The results showed that ESP-SJE treatment significantly reduced the infiltration of inflammatory cells, especially eosinophils into the lung tissue, inhibited the production of the total and OVA-specific IgE during OVA-sensitized and -challenged phases, respectively, and suppressed the secretion of Th2-type inflammatory cytokines (IL-4). Additionally, ESP-SJE treatment significantly upregulated the regulatory T cells (Tregs) in the lung tissue during OVA challenge. Furthermore, using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis and Treg induction experiments in vitro, we might identify nine potential therapeutic proteins against allergic inflammation in ESP-SJE. The targets of these candidate proteins included glutathione S-transferase, egg protein CP422 precursor, tubulin alpha-2/alpha-4 chain, actin-2, T-complex protein 1 subunit beta, histone H&sub4;, whey acidic protein core region, and molecular chaperone HtpG.