Immunomodulatory Effects of Yunzhi-Danshen on Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Patients

Abstract

RATIONALE: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a prevalent tumor disease in Hong Kong. The immune system of such patients could be adversely affected during the course of conventional chemotherapy or radiotherapy. We investigated the immunomodulatory effects of Yunzhi-Danshen capsules in NPC patients. METHODS: Twenty-seven patients with histologically proven NPC were recruited to take Yunzhi (50 mg/kg body weight) and Danshen (20 mg/kg body weight) capsules (TCM group) or placebo daily for 4 months respectively. Flow cytometry was used to assess the percentages and absolute counts of human lymphocyte subsets in whole blood. Gene expressions of cytokines and cytokine receptors in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were analyzed by cDNA expression array. RESULTS: The decrease of the percentage and the absolute count of T lymphocytes in TCM group was less than that in placebo group after taking the capsules for 16 weeks (p < 0.05). Besides, the decrease of the absolute count of T suppressor and T helper cells in TCM group was significantly lower than that in the placebo group after taking the capsules for 16 weeks (all p < 0.05). These results suggest that Yunzhi-Danshen can alleviate the lymphopenia and other side effects of radiotherapy. cDNA expression array showed that the gene expression of tumor necrosis factor receptor 2 (TNFR2) was significantly down-regulated in patients after taking the TCM capsules 7 days without radiotherapy (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that selected traditional Chinese medicine such as Yunzhi and Danshen have immunomodulatory effects in patients with NPC.