CAM as Countermeasures Against Infectious and Inflammatory Disease

This center will study biologically based CAM therapies and their effects on immune system function in infectious and inflammatory diseases. One project focuses on effects of botanical extracts—from apple polyphenols, which are concentrated in apple skins, and from yamoa, which comes from the bark of an African gum tree—on white blood cells, using models of infection and inflammation of the intestinal mucosa. A second project examines two compounds in licorice root—glycyrrhizin and 18-glyrrhetinic acid—for their potential antiviral effects in models of influenza and small intestine infection. A third project will focus on bacterial products to see how they treat autoimmune diseases, like arthritis, which may also help build understanding of probiotics' action.