Immunomodulation of Autoimmune Arthritis by Herbal CAM

Figure 2

A schematic overview of the immunological effector mechanisms that mediate the antiarthritic activity of different herbal CAM modalities. The herbal products influence the number and/or activity of specific immune mediators (e.g., T cells, antibodies, cytokines, and chemokines), which in turn drive the 3 major immune pathways leading to pathological damage observed in arthritis [5, 43, 44]. These pathways include cellular and humoral immune responses, cytokine response/balance, and cell migration. The net effect of these immunological changes induced by herbal treatment is the suppression of inflammatory and related arthritic processes [5, 43, 44]. The names and geographical origin of specific plant products that induce these changes are listed in Table 1.