Isolation of Anti-Allergic Activities from an Edible Plant: Implications for Development of Safe and Effective Therapeutics, Nutraceuticals and Drugs, for Allergic Diseases.

Allergic diseases are highly prevalent and their incidences are increasing, especially in developed countries. However, many patients have concerns about medicine-related side-effects and/or financial strains. There has been a strong need for the development of safe, cost-effective and efficacious agents for allergic diseases as currently available agents don’t provide a fundamental treatment method. Due to its complex nature involving multiple factors, these diseases cannot be effectively treated by targeting a single molecule in the body. We hypothesized that phytomedicine approach might be an effective way of developing safe and effective agents for allergic diseases because many botanical products used in traditional medicines contain multiple active compounds. We have previously shown that PG102, a water soluble extract derived from Actinidia arguta, commonly known as hardykiwi fruit, can control the expression of IgE and various Th2 cytokines which play major roles in the pathogenesis of all allergic diseases. Indeed PG102 has been shown to ameliorate allergic symptoms in many different animal models of allergic diseases and in human study. Taken together, PG102 has great potential as a safe and effective reagent for the prevention or treatment of various allergic diseases.