Premium
Effects of Japanese herbal medicine “Sho‐saiko‐to” on in vitro production of tumor necrosis factor‐alpha on peripheral blood mononuclear cells
Author(s) -
Yamashiki Masayoshi,
Nishimura Akira,
Nomoto Minoru,
Nakano Takeshi,
Sato Tetsuro,
Suzuki Hiroyuki,
Zheng QiaoXi,
Klapproth JanMichael,
James Stephen P.,
Kosaka Yoshitane
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
drug development research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.582
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1098-2299
pISSN - 0272-4391
DOI - 10.1002/ddr.430310304
Subject(s) - medicine , peripheral blood mononuclear cell , tumor necrosis factor alpha , traditional chinese medicine , pharmacology , drug , in vitro , immunology , traditional medicine , pathology , biology , biochemistry , alternative medicine
“Xiao‐Chai‐Hu‐Tang” is a herbal medicine that has been used for the treatment of pyretic diseases in China for several thousand years. In Japan, this medicine was modified into “Sho‐saiko‐to,” a prescription drug with standard quality and volume of ingredients. It is widely used as a biological response modifier in the treatment of chronic viral liver diseases. Several researchers have reported improvement of general physical conditions and the drug's usefulness in preventing liver cancer development. In this in vitro study, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were obtained from 12 healthy volunteers, and Sho‐saiko‐to (TJ‐9) was added to the cultures of the PBMC. Dose‐dependent increases in the levels of tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α) were observed in the cultures. Similar but smaller increases in the TNF‐α levels were also observed when other Japanese herbal medicines, Dai‐saiko‐to (TJ‐8) or Saiko‐keishi‐to (TJ‐10), were added to the cultures. These results demonstrated that the increases of TNF‐α levels are specifically due to Sho‐saiko‐to and other drugs with similar ingredients. TNF‐α is believed to have anti‐tumor effects and also to have an important role as IL‐1 in the defense mechanism of the body. Therefore, the induction of TNF‐α could also be useful in clinical treatment, and this effect could be one of the mechanisms by which Sho‐saiko‐to demonstrates efficacy in the treatment of patients with chronic viral liver diseases. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.