Juzentaihoto Failed to Augment Antigen-Specific Immunity but Prevented Deterioration of Patients’ Conditions in Advanced Pancreatic Cancer under Personalized Peptide Vaccine

Abstract

Juzentaihoto (JTT) is a well-known Japanese herbal medicine, which has been reported to modulate immune responses and enhance antitumor immunity in animal models. However, it is not clear whether JTT has similar effects on humans. In particular, there is little information on the effects of JTT in antigen-specific immunity in cancer patients. Here we conducted a randomized clinical study to investigate whether combined usage of JTT could affect antigen-specific immunity and clinical findings in advanced pancreatic cancer patients undergoing personalized peptide vaccination (PPV), in which HLA-matched vaccine antigens were selected based on the preexisting host immunity. Fifty-seven patients were randomly assigned to receive PPV with (n = 28) or without (n = 29) JTT. Unexpectedly, JTT did not significantly affect cellular or humoral immune responses specific to the vaccine antigens, which were determined by antigen-specific interferon-γ secretion in T cells and antigen-specific IgG titers in plasma, respectively. Nevertheless, JTT prevented deterioration of patients' conditions, such as anemia, lymphopenia, hypoalbuminemia, plasma IL-6 elevation, and reduction of performance status, which are frequently observed in advanced cancers. To our knowledge, this is the first clinical study that examined the immunological and clinical effects of JTT in cancer patients undergoing immunotherapy in humans.