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Experimental Study
on the Immuno-Augment Effect of Astragalus membranaceus
and Ligustrum Lucidum
Sun Yan, et al., Oncology Research Institute, Chinese
Academy of Medicine
In this artical:
Astragalus membranaceus
(AM) and Ligustrum Lucidum(LL) are two medicinal herbs
most commonly used in Fu-Zheng therapy. In cancer patients
who were given long-term treatment with AM/or LL, thier
immune competence was shown to become improved. In this
communication, water-solubilized fractions of AM and
LL were found to augment the in vitro blastogenic reponse
of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) to suboptimal
doses of PHA, Con A and PWM. This was true for PBL from
both normal individuals and cancer patients, although
the proliferation-augmenting effect was weaker in cancer
patients as compared with normal individuals. AM and
LL were also capable of augmenting the local xenogenic
graft-versus-host reaction of immuno-suppressed rates
to herb treated normal or cancer patients' PBL. The
immno-augmenting effect of AM and LL was achieved, at
least in part, through the elimination of suppressor
T cell activity.
Results:
Table
1. Effects of AM & LL on in vitro
blastogenic response of lymphocytes from normal individuals
and cancer patients.
| |
Lymphocyte |
Cases
|
Herbs
|
RPI (  ) |
|
Herb ext. alone
|
PHA + herb ext.
|
Con A +herb ext.
|
PWM +herb ext.
|
| |
Normal |
14
|
AM
|
2.4 ¡À 1.6
|
70.4 ¡À 139.7
|
24.9 ¡À 42.9
|
72.5 ¡À 231.0
|
| |
individual |
LL
|
3.1 ¡À 2.7
|
69.9 ¡À 103.0
|
70.8 ¡À 117.6
|
83.8 ¡À 166.0
|
| |
Cancer |
|
AM
|
2.6 ¡À 3.5
|
11.7 ¡À 26.0
|
8.9 ¡À 24.3
|
16.2 ¡À 47.6
|
| |
patients |
LL
|
1.3 ¡À 0.7
|
15.0 ¡À 37.8
|
5.1 ¡À 6.9
|
7.1 ¡À 8.8
|
Fig.
1-2 Effects of AM and LL (10ug/ml, continuous
exposure, 3-day culture) on in vitro blastogenic responses
of mononuclear cells (MNC) from 14 normal donors (Fig.
1) and from 14 advanced cancer patients (Fig. 2) plotted
as the actual changes of cpm 3H-thymidine incorporation
between control (left) and herb extracted-treated (right),
with or without additionl mitogens.
Fig.
3-4 Dose response of human MNC from a
normal donor (Fig.3) and cancer patients (Fig.4) to
AM and LL on the stimulation of suboptimal doses of
mitogens. The results are the arithmetic mean of triplicate
cultures.
Table 2
Effects of AM /LL on the inhibitory effects of lymphocytes
of advanced cancer patients to normal lymphocytes
| Cellular |
Diagnosis
|
| contents of |
Melanoma
|
AML
|
Melanoma
|
NPC
|
| cultures |
PHA
|
Con A
|
PHA
|
Con A
|
PHA
|
PHA
|
Con A
|
| N |
53.4
|
5.6
|
80.7
|
11.2
|
18.0
|
46.4
|
2.1
|
| N + N' |
102.3
|
19.6
|
118.4
|
16.4
|
12.9
|
66.3
|
5.9
|
| N + P |
16.5
|
4.1
|
7.6
|
1.3
|
0.1
|
13.8
|
5.9
|
| N + P (irradiat.) |
86.3
|
10.4
|
40.6
|
4.8
|
3.8
|
37.4
|
14.3
|
| N + P (THF) |
91.1
|
15.4
|
150.1
|
14.5
|
11.2
|
49.3
|
5.1
|
| N + P (AM) |
79.8
|
8.8
|
141.1
|
11.6
|
6.5
|
68.6
|
5.6
|
| N + P (LL) |
86.2
|
7.4
|
57.8
|
9.6
|
9.7
|
66.0
|
4.1
|
N = Normal, P = Cancer patient
Table 3
Effects of AM /LL on local GVH reaction
| Lymphocytes |
Local GVH reaction induced by
lymphocytes (
) |
|
Control (n=19)
|
AM (n=10)
|
LL (n=13)
|
| Cancer patients |
26.0 ¡À 31.7
|
112.9 ¡À 94.2
|
118.4 ¡À 104.9
|
|
(0-145.6)
|
(36.0-351.4)
|
(43.7-407.6)
|
| Normal individual |
82.4 ¡À 41.1
|
248.2 ¡À 249.7
|
241.8 ¡À 147.5
|
|
(46.1-174.4)
|
(51.5-765.4)
|
(72.0-543)
|
Discuss:
Table 1. - Blastogenic response
of lymphocytes. With low dosage of T cell mitogen, Both
AM and LL have strong effect on blastogenic response
of lymphocytes
Table 2. - Inhibitory effects
of lymphocytes of advanced cancer patients. By eliminating
the activity of Ts cells, AM/LL can reverse this inhibitory
effect.
Table 3. - Local GVH reaction. As MLC, GVH reaction,
shows the function of T cells. According to the result,
AM/LL can amplify this function of effector T lymphocyte.
Conclusion
AM/LL can obviously release
the suppression of immune system and boost immunity
of cancer patients.
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