Activation and proliferation signals in primary human T lymphocytes inhibited by ergosterol peroxide isolated from Cordyceps cicadae.

Effects of ergosterol peroxide (C28H44O3; Cpd 6A) from Cordyceps cicadae on phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-stimulated cell proliferation were studied in primary human T cells. The results showed that Cpd 6A suppressed T-cell proliferation for about 24 h after stimulation with PHA. Cell cycle analysis indicated that Cpd 6A arrested the cell cycle progression of activated T cells from the G1 transition to the S phase. To localize the point in the cell cycle where arrest occurred, a set of key regulatory events leading to the G1/S boundary, including the expression of cyclins D2, E, A1, and B1, interleukin (IL)-2, IL-4, interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), and activating protein-1 (AP-1), was examined. Cpd 6A suppressed, in activated T lymphocytes, the production and mRNA expression of cyclin E, IL-2, IL-4, IL-10, and IFN-gamma in a dose-dependent manner. Expression of AP-1 proteins, consisting of c-Fos and c-Jun, in activated T lymphocytes was decreased by Cpd 6A. The kinetic study indicated that the inhibitory effects of Cpd 6A on IL-2 mRNA expressed in T cells might be related to blocking c-Fos protein synthesis. T-cell proliferation after Cpd 6A treatment was partially restored by addition of IL-2, IL-4, and IFN-gamma. These suppressant effects of Cpd 6A on T-cell proliferation, activated by PHA, appeared to be mediated, at least in part, through the inhibition of early gene transcripts, especially those of cyclin E, IFN-gamma, IL-2, and IL-4, and by arresting cell cycle progression in the cells.