Indian Medicinal Plants as Immunomodulators: Scientific Validation of the Ethnomedicinal Beliefs

In this century, it has been an increased interest globally to identify immune-modulator compounds that are pharmacologically potent and have low or no side effects for use in treating diseases with immunological disorders. As plants produce significant amount of chemicals that are considered immunosuppressants or immunostimulators, they represent a potential source of new compounds with immunological activity. Conventional herbal medicines form an essential part of the healthcare system in India. Ayurveda, the oldest medical system in the world, contributes potential leads to find active and therapeutically useful compounds from plants. Seeing the growing interest in assessing the immunological capacity of herbal medicine, this chapter discusses rarely reviewed 20 plants reported to have immunomodulating properties. Some of the plants reviewed are part of multi-herbal preparations while others are used singly. Indian medicinal plants that have immunomodulatory properties examined by modern system of basic science research will be the focus.