Objective: To investigate the anti-atherosclerosis mechanism of Astragalus mongholicus polysaccharides (APS) by examining its effect on gene expression profiles of the dendritic cells (DCs) from healthy donors.
Methods: Peripheral blood DCs from healthy donors were incubated with 200 mg/L APS overnight, and changes in the gene expression profiles were investigated using microarray technique and RT-PCR.
Results: Compared with the control cells, APS-treated DCs showed significantly up-regulated expressions of CD36 (0.97 ± 0.23 vs 5.45 ± 1.14) and IL-27 (1.08 ± 0.22 vs 2.97 ± 0.61) and down-regulated expression of expression of IFI16 (0.98 ± 0.18 vs 0.46 ± 0.11).
Conclusions: APS can promote the maturation and differentiation of DCs by up-regulating CD36 and IL-27 and down-regulating IFI16, and thus positively affects the occurrence and progression of the atherosclerosis.