As the IL-12 family plays an important role in immune regulation, it arouses the attention of the researchers increasingly. There are mainly four members in the IL-12 family, including IL-12, IL-23, IL-27 and IL-35 at present. The family members share many similar structures, but they have their own distinctive biological characteristics and play different roles to balance the functional effects of their own family. IL-12 and IL-23 are positive regulators and mainly play pro-inflammatory effect while IL-27 and IL-35 are negative regulators and mainly play anti-inflammatory effect. Thus, IL-12 family plays an important role in the regulation of the immune response and this function may be better than other cytokine family. IL-12 family has an important regulatory effect on multiple T cell subsets and also has an impact on their differentiation and function. So, we postulate that the IL-12 family may have an intense relationship with the generation and development of the allergic rhinitis. This article will mainly talk about the unique structure and role of the IL-12 cytokine family and discuss its immune regulation effect in the allergic rhinitis.
The effect of flavonoids of wheat germ on mammary tumor of rats induced by 7,12-dimethylben(a) anthracene (DMBA) was investigated. Sprague-Dawley female rats (50 day-old, weighted around 176 g) were randomly divided into 4 groups. The negative and positive control group were fed on stoke diet. The high and low dose test groups were fed on diets with wheat germ flavonoids 10 and 2 g/kg respectively. Except rats in the negative control group, each rat was given DMBA 15 mg dissolved in 1.5 ml vegetable oil by tube feeding. After the administration of DMBA for 24 weeks, the incidence of tumor in the high dose test group was lower than that in the positive control group. The activity of blood and liver glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and peroxidase dismutase(SOD) in the test groups was significantly higher than those in the positive control group, while the MDA level was significantly lower. The results suggested that the effect of flavonoids on inducing peroxidase might be one of the chemical prevention mechanisms on mammary tumors.