Stein G, Henn W, von Laue H, Berg P
Krebsforschung Herdecke, Department of Applied Immunology, Communal Hospital, Beckweg 4, Herdecke, D-58313, Germany.
Eur J Med Res. 1998 Apr 8;3(4):194-202.
There is evidence from recent data that mistletoe extracts exert immunostimulatory properties which could explain their therapeutic effects observed in some tumor patients. Aim of our study was, therefore, to investigate the effect of a subcutaneous 16-weeks therapy with a mistletoe extract (ABNOBAviscum Mali, AM) on the cellular and humoral immune responses in eight breast cancer patients. Mistletoe therapy induced a strong initial proliferation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in all individuals, which, however, decreased in six patients during the observation period, indicating that not only activating but also inhibitory mechanisms have been induced. In all supernatants of AM-stimulated cell cultures TNF-alpha or IL-6 were found, indicating the activation of cells of the monocyte-/macrophage lineage by mistletoe extracts. Further analyses revealed, that AM induced in vitro also the release of low amounts of IFN-gamma and IL-4 with individual variations. At the end of the therapy, a shift to Th1- related cytokines could be observed in the in vitro cell culture system. All patients produced anti-mistletoe lectin 1 antibodies of the IgG-type during therapy and in four of them additionally antibodies of the IgE-type were found. It, therefore, seems that AM can influence the Th1/Th2 balance and, in case of a Th1 shift, this may favourably influence the tumor growth.
近期数据表明，槲寄生提取物具有免疫刺激特性，这可以解释在一些肿瘤患者身上观察到的治疗效果。因此，我们研究的目的是调查槲寄生提取物（ABNOBAviscum Mali，AM）皮下注射16周疗法对8名乳腺癌患者细胞免疫和体液免疫反应的影响。槲寄生疗法在所有个体中均引发外周血单核细胞（PBMC）强烈的初始增殖，但在观察期内，6名患者的这种增殖有所下降，这表明不仅诱导了激活机制，还诱导了抑制机制。在AM刺激的细胞培养物的所有上清液中均发现了TNF-α或IL-6，这表明槲寄生提取物激活了单核细胞/巨噬细胞谱系的细胞。进一步分析显示，AM在体外还诱导了少量IFN-γ和IL-4的释放，且存在个体差异。在治疗结束时，体外细胞培养系统中可观察到向Th1相关细胞因子的转变。所有患者在治疗期间均产生了IgG型抗槲寄生凝集素1抗体，其中4名患者还发现了IgE型抗体。因此，AM似乎可以影响Th1/Th2平衡，并且在发生Th1转变的情况下，这可能对肿瘤生长产生有利影响。
