An Extract from North American Ginseng Stimulates Spontaneous Immunity in Infant Mice: Sustained, Augmented Immunity in Adulthood Long after Withdrawal of the Extract

Abstract

The present study evaluated the effect of CVT E002, a proprietary extract of North American ginseng, Panax quinquefolius (CV Technologies, Inc., Edmonton, AB, Canada), in vivo, on the hemopoietic and immune cells when administered intraperitoneally to infant (pre-weaned) mice. The extract was administered to groups of mice daily, for 14 days, from 7 – 21 days after birth, the dosage being adjusted progressively according to body weight as the infants grew. At 21-26 days of age, the period immediately after the last of the injection, and at 7-8 weeks of age, long after the termination of CVT E002, the bone marrow and spleen were removed from treated and control mice (CVT E002-injected and vehicle-injected, respectively). The results revealed that CVT E002 stimulated only those cells acting as the first line of defense against cancer, i.e., natural killer (NK) cells and granulocytes when assessed immediately after termination of CVT E002. However, even more potentially significant, was the observation that in spite of withdrawing the agent at weaning (21 days of age), the influence of CVT E002 had indirectly continued to produce a significant augmentation in NK cells and granulocytes in adulthood. Thus, CVT E002 may be considered as a dietary additive, fortifying anti-cancer immunity during the critical infant/juvenile ages when, in humans at least, pediatric cancers such as leukemia, lymphomas, Wilms tumors and retinoblastoma are relatively frequent.