The Potential of Medicinal Plants with Bioactive Compounds as Antioxidants, Anti-Inflammatory and Immunomodulators: Review

Immunity is the body's defense mechanism against infectious diseases. The immune response can be triggered by many natural factors as well as artificial factors such as infections, immunization, and external stimuli. One of the most important functions of the immune system in a healthy body is to maintain homeostasis. Immune stimulation and immune suppression are contradicted effects of the immune functions, they can be obtained and influenced by an external and/or external factor, thus the efficiency and the function of the immune system can be affected by those factors. Immunomodulators are agents that modulate or normalize the normal function of the immune system. Recently, many types of drugs that are used as chemotherapeutic drugs to treat serious diseases such as autoimmune diseases, cancer and inflammatory diseases showed high risks of adverse side effects. The successful treatment strategy of those diseases is to obtain the best results with minimum side effects; immunomodulators derived from natural sources are the best and potential agents to replace, prevent or even reduce the expected side effects. Bioactive compounds extracted from natural sources were found to treat and prevent inflammatory diseases and modulate the immune function. Recently, immunomodulatory characteristics of natural bioactive compounds have attracted the attention of researchers. Using different plants, fungi or algae, promising research on the immunomodulatory effects of the bioactive compounds have come to the light. Thus, in the current review, the immunomodulatory, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of some common plants have been shown.