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Carotenoids and the Immune Response¹

Clinical Nutrition, Hoffmann-LaRoche Inc., Nutley, NJ 07110

There is growing evidence from in vitro and in vivo laboratory animal studies that ß-carotene can protect phagocytic cells from autooxidative damage, enhance T and B lymphocyte proliferative responses, stimulate effector T cell functions, and enhance macrophage, cytotoxic T cell and natural killer cell tumoricidal capacities, as well as increase the production of certain interleukins. Many of these effects have also been seen with carotenoids lacking provitamin A activity but having the antioxidant and singlet oxygen quenching capacities of ß-carotene. The association of immunoenhancement with decreased tumor burden in animals given carotenoids suggests a potential explanation for the epidemiological data linking lower carotenoid status with higher incidences of certain cancers. Since vitamin A is a relatively poor antioxidant and cannot quench singlet oxygen, ß-carotene may have more importance as a nutrient than simply serving as a precursor of vitamin A.

KEY WORDS: • ß-carotene • canthaxanthin • lymphocytes • neutrophils • cancer • tumors

¹ Presented as part of the symposium, "Biological Actions of Carotenoids," given at the 72nd annual meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, Las Vegas, NV, May 2, 1988, and supported by grants from the BASF Corporation, Hoffmann-LaRoche Inc., and the National Dairy Council.

Manuscript received 13 July 1988. Revision accepted 13 September 1988.

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