Protective Blend of essential oil blend includes oils from Wild Orange, Clove, Cinnamon Bark, Eucalyptus, and Rosemary. It can be used to protect against environmental threats and support healthy immune function.* A recent study scientists evaluated the effects of  Protective Blend on human cells. Four different white blood cell co-cultures and one skin cell co-culture were exposed to the blend and subsequent changes in cellular activity were measured using biomarker analysis.

The combination of multiple cell types grown together in the same dish is called a co-culture. Co-cultures are often more useful models of cell activity than single cell lines because they more closely resemble conditions in the human body, which is a complex combination of various cell types. The co-cultures selected for experimentation in this study have been validated by prior research as effective models of inflammatory or immunomodulatory processes.

A total of nine different biomarkers were observed to be downregulated in the different white blood cell co-cultures.3 These were the immunomodulatory markers CD40, sIgG, sIL-17A, sIL-17F, sIL-2, and sIL-6, as well as the inflammatory markers sTNFα, V-CAM1, IP-10, Eotaxin-3 and P-Selectin.3

Biomarkers in the skin cell co-culture were also robustly affected. Levels of inflammation-related markers VCAM-1, IP-10, I-TAC, MIG, PAI-1, and M-CSF decreased after exposure to Protective Blend. Cell proliferation also decreased significantly. RNA microarray analysis revealed that gene expression in these cells was altered, with the top four matched signaling pathways being related to inflammation and cell cycle control.

These results suggest that the effects of Protective Blend essential oil blend are consistent with the known effects of the single oils included in the blend. The experimental data also suggests that Protective Blend may regulate many important pathways relevant to healthy inflammatory response, wound healing, cellular health, and immune response.*

Data sources:

• Berg, E. L., Yang, J., Melrose, J., Nguyen, D., Privat, S., Rosler, E., Ekins, S. (2010). Chemical target and pathway toxicity mechanisms defined in primary human cell systems. Journal of Pharmacological and Toxicological Methods, 61(1), 3-15. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19879948/
• Bergamini, G., Bell, K., Shimamura, S., Werner, T., Cansfield, A., Müller, K., … Neubauer, G. (2012). A selective inhibitor reveals PI3Kγ dependence of T(H)17 cell differentiation. Nature Chemical Biology, 8(6), 576–582. https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.957, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22544264
• Han, X., Parker, T. L., & Dorsett, J. (2017). An essential oil blend significantly modulates immune responses and the cell cycle in human cell cultures. Cogent Biology, 3(1), 1340112. https://doi.org/10.1080/23312025.2017.1340112