Dammarane triterpenes from the leaves of Panax ginseng enhance cellular immunity.

In our search for immune stimulating materials from natural source, bioassay-guided fractionation of a methanol extract of Panax ginseng leaves led to the isolation of three dammarane triterpenes (1-3), including two previously unknown compounds 27-demethyl-(E,E)-20(22),23-dien-3β,6α,12β-trihydroxydammar-25-one (1) and 3β,20(S)-dihydroxydammar-24-en-12β,23β-epoxy-20-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (2). Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic methods, chemical transformation, and by the comparison with those of literature data. Compounds 1-3 significantly increased interleukin-12 expression in LPS-activated mouse peritoneal macrophage at a concentration of 100 ng/mL. Furthermore, compound 1 strongly increased the Th1 response-mediated cytokine IL-2, and decreased Th2 response-mediated cytokines IL-4 and IL-6 expression at 100 ng/mL on ConA-activated splenocytes. This study indicated that compound 1 showed a better effect on cellular immunity, and provided new chemical entities as promising lead compounds for the treatment of cellular immunity-related diseases.