Polyphenols affect the humoral response in cancer, infectious and allergic diseases and autoimmunity by modulating the activity of T H 1 and T H 2 cells

Polyphenols are a wide class of natural substances, pleiotropic molecules capable of modulating several processes, involved in the humoral and cellular immune response. The activation, differentiation of B cells, and production of antibodies to protein antigens by plasma cells depend on T helper (T ) CD4 cells and secreted cytokines. Cancer, infectious, allergic, and autoimmune diseases are characterized by an imbalance of T 1/T 2 immunity and abnormal activation of the humoral response. Accordingly, polyphenols modulate the T 1/T 2 ratio, the secretion of multiple cytokines, the levels of antibodies, and therefore could contribute to recovering the state of health in these diseases. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on the effects of polyphenols in modulating the humoral response in cancer, infectious and allergic diseases and in autoimmunity by affecting the activity of T 1 and T 2 cells.