Plant secondary metabolites with immunomodulatory activity

The in vitro anticomplementary activity and inhibition of T-cell proliferation techniques have been used to investigate the immunomodulatory activity of several classes of secondary metabolites from medicinal plants. These included diterpenes, lignans and xanthones isolated from Endospermum diadenum, Talauma hodgsonii, Persea membranaceae and Calophyllum teysmanii var. inophylloide, respectively. In the case of the dolabrane diterpenes from Endospermum diadenum, an attempt has been made to correlate the immunomodulatory activity with their anti-inflammatory activity.