Plants and Phytomolecules for Immunomodulation Recent Trends and Advances

This book describes the process of immunomodulation and the plants which possess immunomodulation properties to boost the immune system. The immunomodulation process is highly relevant to address emerging as well as existing diseases in humans. A better immune system triggers the cellular responses for neutralizing and combating the onset of disease conditions. Chapters in the book discuss plants that have profound effects on the health and well-being of humans. They discuss the natural phytochemicals that have immense diversity and uniqueness of molecules. Molecules belonging to phenylpropanoids, terpenoids, steroids, alkaloids, and tannins etc possess a variety of pharmacological activities. The chapters describe how bioactive exert effects even when taken as part of the diet, supplement, and or as traditional herbal medicine. This book provides up-to-date scientific knowledge about the activities and mechanisms and leads in the area of medicinal plants and phytochemicals with immunomodulation properties.

This book is meant for students, academics, researchers, and industry professionals interested in pharmacology, immunology, and plant secondary metabolites.

Chapter 1. Immune system and mechanism of Immuno-modulation.- Chapter 2. Insights into the modulation of immune response, chemistry, and mechanisms of action of immuno-modulatory phytomolecules.- Chapter 3. Bioprospection and Clinical Investigations of Immunomodulatory Molecules.- Chapter 4. Pathway and genomics of immunomodulator natural products.- Chapter 5. Phytomolecules and metabolomics of immunomodulation - Recent Trends and Advances.- Chapter 6. Knowledge of African Traditional Medicine System: Immunomodulation.- Chapter 7. Middle Eastern diets as a potential source of immunomodulators.- Chapter 8. Immuno-Stimulant Properties of Some Commonly Used Indian Spices and Herbs with Special Reference to Region Specific Cuisines.- Chapter 9. Traditional Indian Knowledge of immunity from plants.- Chapter 10. Select Global Immune-Boosting Plants Used in Folklore Medicine.- Chapter 11. Immunomodulatory role of terpenoids and phytosteroids.- Chapter 12. Rhizomatous Plants – Curcuma longa and Zingiber officinale in affording immunity.- Chapter 13. Fruits as Boosters of Immune System.- Chapter 14. Solanaceous Plants for Immunomodulation.- Chapter 15. Food and vegetables as source of phytoactives for immunomodulation.- Chapter 16. Immunomodulation potential of woody plants.- Chapter 17. Biotechnological approaches for the production of immunomodulating phytomolecules.- Chapter 18. Technological mapping of plant-derived immunomodulator drugs: A patent-guided overview about species and its main compounds.

Prof. Neelam Sangwan, PhD, FNA, FNASc, FNAAS

Dean, School of Interdisciplinary and Applied Sciences; Dean, Research; Head, Department of Biochemistry, Central University of Haryana, India

Prof. Neelam Sangwan has published more than 100 research papers in journals of international repute and implemented externally competitive grant projects. She is recipient of several national awards. Her major area of research is specialized metabolites and metabolism in medicinal and aromatic plants, genomics, molecular understanding of traditional therapies, and phyto-active molecules for pharmacological investigations. She is managing editor of Plant Growth Regulation. Dr. Sangwan has supervised over 50 postdoctoral, PhD, and postgraduate students, and mentored young interns and women scientists. She has visited The Samuel Noble Foundation, USA; John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK, for scientific research programs; and as Women Leaders in Crop Science at Clare College and Cambridge University under Newton-Bhabha program.

Farag, PhD

TWAS fellow in Agriculture

Visiting Professor, American University in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt

Professor, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Egypt 

Specializing in metabolomics and natural products chemistry, Mohamed A. Farag completed his PhD at Texas Tech University, USA, in 2003. Dr. Farag now works at the American University in Cairo (AUC) where his research work focuses primarily around applying innovative biochemical technologies (metabolomics) to help answer complex biological questions in medicine, herbal drugs analysis, and agriculture.

He has coauthored more than 216 scientific papers and has more than 6000 citations and an H index of 41. In 2010, Dr. Farag was selected as a top researcher in the field of plant biology in Africa by the American Society of Plant Biology, USA. Dr. Farag is a current TWAS Fellow in Agriculture from Egypt. He is managing editor of the esteemed, multi-disciplinary Journal of Advanced Research.

Luzia Valentina Modolo, PhD

Professor, Department of Botany

Institute of Biological Sciences

Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil

Prof. Modolo received her PhD degree in Functional and Molecular Biology in 2004 from the State University of Campinas (SP, Brazil). She is faculty member of the Department of Botany at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (MG, Brazil). Prof. Modolo is the coordinator of the Network for the Development of Novel Urease Inhibitors and her research interests include plant nutrition and secondary metabolism and signaling processes in plant tissues triggered by environmental stress. She has published over 65 peer-reviewed articles and is the author of 20 book chapters and 6 patents. She is Associate editor of the Journal of Advanced Research and Review Editor of the Frontiers in Plant Science.