Choi Su-san-na, a senior researcher, and Kim Tae-su, head of the Korean Medicine Convergence Research Department at the Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, noted on the 15th that ginsenoside Rb1, a key component of ginseng saponins, could alleviate asthma symptoms through immune modulation. The research findings were published in the international journal 'Allergy' on April 19.
Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease that is difficult to cure and requires continuous management, and the number of asthma patients in South Korea is showing an increasing trend each year. Asthma is closely related to the inflammation modulation mechanism of a type of immune cell called 'regulatory T cells,' but so far, there have been no asthma-specialized treatments developed that directly target or activate regulatory T cells.
The research team analyzed a library of 250 natural products and selected ginsenoside Rb1, a major active ingredient extracted from ginseng, as a promising candidate. Ginsenoside Rb1, a type of 'saponin,' a key substance that provides ginseng's medicinal effects, is known to exhibit various physiological activities, including anti-inflammatory, immune modulation, and alleviation of inflammatory diseases.
Ginsenoside Rb1 demonstrated excellent immune-modulating effects in experiments conducted on both asthma animal models and blood cells derived from asthma patients. In asthma animal models treated with ginsenoside Rb1, regulatory T cells increased by about 46%, and the activity of various types of T cells that induce inflammation was overall suppressed. In particular, the number of Th17 cells, one of the immune cells that can trigger inflammation, decreased by about 80%, and the secretion of inflammatory cytokines was significantly reduced.
In experiments with patient-derived blood cells, both the quantity and function of regulatory T cells improved, and the activity of inflammatory immune cells and cytokines was suppressed, replicating the immune-modulating effects seen in animal experiments.
Choi Su-san-na noted, “This study confirms the possibility that the effective components of ginseng can modulate the immune balance between T cells to alleviate asthma symptoms,” and added, “We will continue to strive for traditional medicine to play a leading role in developing new treatment strategies to overcome various inflammatory diseases, including asthma, based on this achievement.
References
Allergy (2025), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/all.16551