while the invention will be described in connection with preferred embodiments , it will be understood that it is not intended to limit the invention to those embodiments . on the contrary , it is intended to cover all alternatives , modifications , and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims . this patent application describes an extract from the melothria indica lou plant for the inhibition of cytokines for the therapeutic treatment of disease such as sepsis . melothria indica lou is a popular herb emerging in certain asian countries such as india , taiwan and japan . it is a perennial plant that thrives on lowland , hillside and bushes of the above mentioned countries . the stems and / or leaves of melothria indica lou are used as a herb that is believed to be beneficial to certain diseases such as cancer , soreness of the throat and acute conjunctivitis . we have discovered that the aqueous extract of melothria indica lou contains an activity that blocks the release of tnf - alpha by endotoxin - stimulated macrophage . this finding is described as following : the fruit of melothria indica lou was dried and chopped into small pieces . thirty ( 30 ) grams of the dry material was extracted with 40 ml of hot ( 90 - 100 ° c .) phosphate buffer saline ( pbs ) for 10 minutes . the aqueous extract was collected by filtration . the aqueous extract ( 1 ml ) was fractionated by a reverse phase hplc column ( synchropak scd , micra scientific inc ., northbrook , ill .) by eluting the column isocratically with a chromatographic medium such as pbs . the elution profile is shown in fig1 . fraction no . 6 was found to contain an activity blocking the release of tnf - alpha from lps - stimulated macrophage by a tnf - alpha elisa assay . an elisa assay kit purchased from r & amp ; d system ( minneapolis , minn .) was used to assay tnf - alpha released from lps - stimulated macrophage in the presence or absence of the aqueous extract of melothria indica lou . the principle of elisa assay is based on the capture of tnf by a tnf antibody followed by a secondary antibody that has been conjugated with an enzyme capable of the generation of a color reaction . the amount of tnf released by macrophage was quantified by the colormetric absorption at a certain wavelength . as shown in fig2 the left two wells marked with blank contain the tnf - alpha released by non - stimulated macrophage . the next two wells marked with l contain the tnf - alpha released by lps - stimulated macrophage . the wells marked with 8 , 10 and 12 contain the tnf - alpha released by lps - stimulated macrophage in the presence of 8 , 10 and 12 μl of fraction no . 6 ( see elution profile of scd column ) of the extract respectively . the intensity of the color , which reflects the amount of tnf released by the macrophages , clearly demonstrate that the fraction no . 6 of the plant extract contains an activity blocking the release of tnf by macrophage . using the elisa assay as described above , the active component inhibiting the release of tnf - alpha by lps - stimulated macrophage was purified by the following procedure : the aqueous extract ( 1 ml ) was fractionated by a reverse phase hplc column ( synchropak scd , micra scientific inc . northbrook , ill .) by eluting the column isocratically with pbs . the elution profile was shown in fig1 . fraction no . 6 was found to contain an activity blocking the release of tnf - alpha from lps - stimulated macrophage by testing with a tnf - alpha elisa assay . fraction no . 6 from the previous step was collected and applied to the same scd reverse phase chromatography column equilibrated with h20 : ch3cn =( 50 : 50 ) containing 0 . 1 % trifluoroacetic acid . the column was isocratically eluted with the same solvent . the elution profile was shown in fig3 . fraction nos . 6 and 7 are found to contain an activity inhibiting the release of tnf - alpha by lps - stimulated macrophage by testing with a tnf - alpha elisa assay . fractions nos . 6 and 7 collected from the previous step were applied onto a rpp reverse phase chromatography column ( micra scientific inc . northbrook , ill .) equilibrated with 0 . 1 % trifluoroacetic acid in water . the column was eluted by a solvent gradient created by 0 . 1 % trifluoroacetic acid ( solvent a ) and h2o : ch3cn =( 50 : 50 ) containing 0 . 1 % trifluoroacetic acid ( solvent b ). the gradient was generated by 100 % solvent a and 0 % solvent b at time zero ( 0 ) followed by increasing solvent b from 0 % to 100 % after 20 ml elution volume . the elution profile was shown in fig4 . fraction 2 was found to contain an activity inhibiting the release of tnf - alpha by lps - stimulated macrophage by testing with a tnf - alpha elisa assay . fraction no . 2 collected from the previous step was applied onto a ax - 100 anionic exchange chromatography column ( micra scientific inc . northbrook , ill .) equilibrated with pbs . the column was eluted isocratically by pbs . the elution profile was shown in fig5 . fractions nos . 9 and 10 were found to contain an activity inhibiting the release of tnf - alpha by lps - stimulated macrophage by testing with a tnf - alpha elisa assay . fractions nos . 9 and 10 collected from the previous step was applied onto a ax - 100 anion exchange chromatography column ( micra scientific inc . northbrook , ill .) equilibrated with 1 : 10 h 2 o dilution of pbs . the column was eluted by a solvent gradient created by 10 %; pbs in water ( solvent a ) and 100 % pbs ( solvent b ). the gradient was generated by 100 % solvent a and 0 % solvent b at time zero followed by increasing solvent b from 0 % to 100 % after 20 ml elution volume . the elution profile was shown in fig6 . fraction 2 was found to contain an activity inhibiting the release of tnf - alpha by ilps - stimulated macrophage by testing with a tnf - alpha elisa assay . fraction 2 from the previous step was applied onto a silica gel chromatography column ( partisil 5 , whatman ) equilibrated with ch3cn : etoh : h2o = 84 . 5 : 15 : 0 . 5 ). the column was isocratically eluted with the same solvent . the elution profile was shown in fig7 . fraction nos . 6 and 7 are found to contain activity inhibiting the release of tnf - alpha by lps - stimulated macrophage . this highly purified component was designated as kas and was used for an animal study ( mice sepsis ) and a chemical structure study . the highly purified active component kas , which inhibits tnf - alpha secretion and was extracted from the plant melothria indica lou , was tested on a mice sepsis model . balb / c mice ( male ) were intraperitoneally injected with galactosamine ( 15 mg / kg body weight ) and lipopolysaccharide ( 0 . 1 , 1 and 10 μg / kg body weight ) with or without kas ( 0 . 5 , 25 , 50 mg / kg body weight ). all mice were treated with a volume of 0 . 2 ml single injection with reagents mixed in pyrogen free saline . the mice were observed for seven ( 7 ) days . the results are tabulated in table i and indicate that kas reduces the mortality of endotoxin - treated mice in a dose - dependent manner . in this model of sepsis using galactosamine and lipopolysaccharide , the ld 50 was established at 15 mg galactosamine per kilogram of body weight and 0 . 1 μg lipopolysaccharide per kilogram of body weight . using 1 mg or 0 . 5 mg of kas reversed the mortality to give a 100 % survival rate . kas given at 0 . 01 mg / kg gave a 60 % survival rate . table i effect of kas on mortality in lethal toxicity produced in balb / c mice using galactosamine and lipopolysaccharide . galactosamine lipopolysaccharide kas mortality percent mg / kg μg / kg mg / mouse dead / total survival 15 10 — 10 / 10 0 15 1 — 10 / 10 0 15 0 . 1 — 6 / 10 40 15 — — 0 / 10 100 — 0 . 1 — 0 / 10 100 15 0 . 1 1 0 / 10 100 15 0 . 1 0 . 5 0 / 10 100 15 0 . 1 0 . 01 4 / 10 60
an extract from the melothria indica lou plant , which has the effect of inhibiting the release of cytokines , including tumor necrosis factor - alpha , by immune response cells , such as macrophages , for the therapeutic treatment of sepsis .