A polysaccharide from Pleurotus citrinopileatus mycelia enhances the immune response in cyclophosphamide-induced immunosuppressed mice via p62/Keap1/Nrf2 signal transduction pathway

The manuscript aimed to study the immunoregulatory activity and the mechanism of the polysaccharide (CMP) from Pleurotus citrinopileatus mycelia. The mice were divided into normal group, model group, different dosage of CMP (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg, respectively) groups and levamisole hydrochloride treated group. The results showed that, compared with the model group, CMP could significantly improve the auricle swelling rate, half hemolysis value and phagocytic index in mice. The indices of immune organs were raised, and tissue damage of spleen was relieved. Splenic Th1 cells were decreased, while Th2 cells were increased, furthermore the proliferation of splenic lymphocytes and the cytotoxicity of NK cells were increased. The levels of interleukin-12 (IL-12), interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in spleen were decreased, while interleukin-4 (IL-4) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) were increased. In serum and spleen, the levels of catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities were increased, while the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) was decreased. And the levels of Immunoglobulin were also increased. Western blot showed that CMP had immunoregulatory activity by activating Nrf2, Keap1, p62, HO-1, and NQO1 in the p62/Keap1/Nrf2 signaling pathway. The study proved that CMP could be used as a biological Immune regulating agent.