Inhibitory effects of gossypol on the activation of human T-lymphocytes stimulated with polyclonal activators

AIM: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were cultured in vitro to study the effect of gossypol, a polyphenolic antifertility agent, on the activation of normal human T cells. METHODS: Double fluorescent staining together with flow cytometry was adopted to analyze the influence of gossypol on expression of the early activation antigen CD69 on T-lymphocytes under stimulation of mitogen or phorbol ester. RESULTS:Analysis of T cell activation in vitro revealed that preincubation of PBMC with 100 μmol/L gossypol could completely inhibit the expression of early activation marker CD69 on CD3⁺ T cells in response to 10mg/L PHA, and block T cell activation by 10^-7 mol/L PDB as well. The suppression of CD69 expression was dose-dependent and IC₅₀ of gossypol on PDB and PHA were (35.7±2.9) μmol/L and (32.8±1.5) μmol/L(x ±s), respectively. Besides, gossypol had similar inhibitory effect on CD69 expression of CD3^- lymphocytes. However, it did not have any significant effect on T cell surface molecule CD3 down-regulation. CONCLUSION: Gossypol could inhibit T cell activation in vitro in response to polyclonal activators, both PHA and PDB, suggesting that its action site may be at PKC or its downstream and that gossypol possessed potential immuno-regulatory effect.