The Immunopharmaceutical Effects and Mechanisms of Herb Medicine

Abstract

In recent years, studies on evaluation of the therapeutic and toxic activity of herbal medicinal products became available and popular. The advances in modern biotechnology have led to discovery of many new active constituents. However, it is a constant challenge to establish the pharmacological basis for efficacy and safety of herbal medicinal products. A better understanding of the effects and bioavailability of phytopharmaceuticals can help in discovering suitable and rational therapies. In this review, we present the bioavailability studies in immune system that has been conducted for some of the more important or widely used phytopharmaceuticals. Furthermore, various new drug targets worthy of using for drug development in immunomodulating herbal medicine area and their regulatory mechanisms are also discussed. Adverse effects, drug interactions, and contraindications are also discussed which show that caution should be exercised when combining phytopharmaceuticals with chemically derived pharmaceutical components. Cellular & Molecular Immunology. 2008;5(1):23-31.

Efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine in treating cancer

“…TCM, with a long history of treating various diseases through modulating the human immune response, offers a potential to be a remedy of the new immunomodulating regimen for cancer treatment. They exert broad immunostimulatory activities by recruiting and activating different types of immune cells, such as dendritic cells (DC), natural killer (NK) T-cells, T cells, macrophage, monocytes (54)(55)(56) and adjusting the production of cytokines (IFN-α, IL-2, IL-6 and IFN-γ) (54,57,58) to fight against the tumor cells.…”

The Study of Dynamics of Clinical and Molecular Phenotypes in the Generalized Form of Myasthenia With Optimized and Combined Treatment

“…Однако лечение со-провождается большим числом нежелательных побочных реакций, таких как аритмии, остеопороз и гипотензия, в результате чего не может быть достигнута полная ре-миссия заболевания [14,15]. Иммуномодуляторный меха-низм развития миастении был доказан в многочисленных исследованиях, продемонстрировавших роль иммунных эффекторных клеток, системы комплемента, цитокино-вой продукции и продукции аутоАТ [16,17]. В различных исследованиях было обнаружено изменение концентра-ции цитокинов в крови при данной болезни [10,[18][19][20].…”

Modulation of Cytokine Production and Transcription Factors Activities in Human Jurkat T Cells by Thymol and Carvacrol

“…Jurkat cells were cultured at concentration of 2x10 6 cells/2ml in 6-well culture plates (Nunclone). The cells were treated with 10 and 25μg/ml of thymol and carvacrol and 2μg/ml of CSA as an NFAT inhibitor for 24h and then PMA (10nM) and calcium ionophore (1 µM) was added.…”

“…Additional products remain that deserve more investigations for their possible therapeutic usefulness in immune-related diseases. 6 Thymol and carvacrol are two important natural terpenoid products present in the essential oil fractions of aromatic plants such as thyme. 7 These products have broad antimicrobial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.…”