College of Pharmacy, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 156-756, Korea.
J Ginseng Res. 2012 Oct;36(4):396-402. doi: 10.5142/jgr.2012.36.4.396.
Vaccination is the main strategy for preventing influenza infection. However, vaccine efficacy is influenced by several factors, including age and health status. The efficacy of the influenza vaccine is much lower (17% to 53%) in individuals over 65 yr of age compared with young adults (70% to 90%). Therefore, increasing vaccine efficacy remains a challenge for the influenza vaccine field. In this study, we investigated the impact of supplementing vaccination with the dietary intake of Korean red ginseng (RG) extract and RG saponin. Mice were immunized two times intranasally with inactivated influenza A (H1N1) virus. Mice received RG extract or RG saponin orally for 14 d prior to the primary immunization. After the primary immunization, mice continued to receive RG extract or RG saponin until the secondary immunization. Mice vaccinated in combination with dietary intake of RG extract and RG saponin showed elevated serum anti-influenza A virus IgG titers and improved survival rates in lethal influenza A virus infection: 56% and 63% of mice receiving RG extract or RG saponin survived, respectively, while 38% of mice that only received the vaccine survived. Moreover, mice receiving RG extract supplementation recovered their body weight more quickly than those not receiving RG extract supplementation. We propose that the dietary intake of RG extract and RG saponin enhances the vaccine-induced immune response and aids in providing protection against influenza virus infection.
接种疫苗是预防流感感染的主要策略。然而，疫苗的效果受到多种因素的影响，包括年龄和健康状况。与年轻人（70% 至 90%）相比，老年人（65 岁以上）的流感疫苗效果要低得多（17% 至 53%）。因此，提高流感疫苗的效果仍然是流感疫苗领域的一个挑战。在这项研究中，我们研究了补充接种用红参（RG）提取物和 RG 皂甙的饮食摄入对流感疫苗效果的影响。用灭活的甲型流感（H1N1）病毒对小鼠进行两次鼻腔内免疫。在初次免疫前，用 RG 提取物或 RG 皂甙对小鼠进行 14 天的口服治疗。初次免疫后，小鼠继续接受 RG 提取物或 RG 皂甙治疗，直到进行二次免疫。与饮食摄入 RG 提取物和 RG 皂甙联合接种的小鼠表现出更高的血清抗甲型流感病毒 IgG 滴度，并在致命性甲型流感病毒感染中提高了存活率：分别有 56%和 63%的接受 RG 提取物或 RG 皂甙治疗的小鼠存活，而仅接受疫苗接种的小鼠中有 38%存活。此外，接受 RG 提取物补充的小鼠比未接受 RG 提取物补充的小鼠更快地恢复体重。我们提出，饮食摄入 RG 提取物和 RG 皂甙可以增强疫苗引起的免疫反应，并有助于提供针对流感病毒感染的保护。
