The Long-Term Effects of a Kampo Medicine, Juzentaihoto, on Maintenance of Antibody Titer in Elderly People after Influenza Vaccination

Abstract

We have performed a broad-ranging analysis of the adjuvant effect of a Kampo medicine, juzentaihoto (JTT), on influenza vaccination in a multicenter randomized controlled trial. In this study, the enhancing effect of JTT on antibody titer after influenza vaccination was studied for 28 weeks in elderly people who were in the high-risk group for influenza infection. In total, 91 subjects over 65 years old were recruited from four long-term-care facilities located in Chiba, Gunma, and Toyama prefectures in Japan. Participants were randomly assigned to the JTT and the control groups. Blood samples were taken at 4 weeks before vaccination, at the time of vaccination, and then at 4, 8, 12, and 24 weeks after vaccination. The hemagglutination inhibition (HI) titers against A/California/7/2009 (H1N1), A/Victoria/210/2009 (H3N2), and B/Brisbane/60/2008 were then manually measured. A significant increase in HI titer against H3N2 was observed at week 8 after vaccination in the JTT group compared with the control group (P = 0.0229), and the HI titer of the JTT group significantly increased from 4 to 24 weeks (P = 0.0468), compared with the control group. In conclusion, our results indicated that JTT increased and prolonged antibody production against A/Victoria/210/2009 (H3N2), in particular, after influenza vaccination.

Immune adjuvant effect of Juzentaihoto, a Japanese traditional herbal medicine, on tumor vaccine therapy in a mouse model

“…Consequently, JTT increased and prolonged antibody production after influenza vaccination. Therefore, we clinically first achieved the establishment of a new integrative vaccine therapy using Kampo as an immune adjuvant (13).…”

“…Given the success of JTT in influenza vaccination (13), we extended the use of JTT to other types of vaccine as immune adjuvant in the present study.…”

Immunostimulatory effects of cell wall‑based nanoparticles in boiled Glycyrrhizae radix water extracts involves TLR4

“…The immunostimulatory effects of herbal medicines are widely known (1,2). In our previous study, it was demonstrated that juzentaihoto, a Japanese herbal medicine, increased and prolonged antibody production following an influenza vaccination in a human clinical experiment (13). However, the immunostimulatory components of herbal medicines and the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear.…”

Kampo Medicines for Infectious Diseases

“…Juzentaihoto is a Kampo medicine traditionally used for patients with anemia, anorexia, or fatigue and also has an ability to accelerate recovery from hematopoietic injury induced by radiation and the anticancer drug mitomycin C (Hisha et al, 1997). The influenza adjuvant activity of juzentaihoto was tested using 91 subjects with a minimum age of 65 years by measuring the antibody titer after influenza vaccination (Saiki et al, 2013). The investigation indicated a significant increase in hemagglutination inhibition titer against A/Victoria/210/2009 (H3N2) among the tested vaccine strains, A/California/7/2009 (H1N1), H3N2, and B/ Brisbane/60/2008.…”