Immunopharmacological studies of wen-qing-yin, a Chinese blended medicine: effects on type IV allergic reactions and humoral antibody production.

Wen-Qing-Yin, a Chinese blended medicine, is reported to be effective against aphthous stomatitis and ulcus vulvae acutum of Behçet's syndrome, although there are no basic experimental studies supporting its clinical effectiveness. Although pathogenesis of Behçet's syndrome is not known, involvement of cellular immunodeficiency has been suggested. In the present paper, the effect of Wen-Qing-Yin on type IV allergic reactions concerned with cellular immunity, and to a lesser extent, formation of humoral antibodies were investigated. Wen-Qing-Yin did not affect the effector phases of type IV allergic reactions including picryl chloride-induced contact dermatitis and footpad reactions induced by sheep red blood cells and tuberculin in mice. However, the induction phases of all these reactions were significantly inhibited with Wen-Qing-Yin. Local graft vs host reaction induced by lymphocytes of Balb/c mice into the footpads of CBF1 mice, was significantly inhibited with Wen-Qing-Yin. The formation of hemolytic plaque forming spleen cells (IgG-PFC and IgM-PFC) from mice were inhibited or tended to be inhibited with Wen-Qing-Yin. Hemolysin formation in the blood of these animals was inhibited or tended to be inhibited with Wen-Qing-Yin. It is suggested that the therapeutic effect of Wen-Qing-Yin on Behçet's syndrome may be mainly due to an inhibitory action on the early phases of the cellular immune response.