Immunomodulatory effects of herbal formula of astragalus polysaccharide (APS) and polysaccharopeptide (PSP) in mice with lung cancer

Objective: This study is to investigate the immunomodulatory effects of the herbal formula of astragalus polysaccharide (APS) and polysaccharopeptide (PSP) in mouse models of immunosuppression and lung cancer. Methods: Immune parameters were recorded for these model mice. Peripheral white blood cells (WBC) were detected with the automatic blood cell analyzer. Spleen and thymus indices, and tumor inhibition ratio were obtained. Percentage of peripheral blood CD4(+) and CD8(+) T lymphocytes were detected by flow cytometry. Serum levels of Th1 (IL-2, TNF, and IFN-gamma), Th2 (IL-4, IL-6, and IL-10), and Th17 (IL-17A) were detected with the BD cytometric bead array (CBA) mouseTh1/Th2/Th17 cytokine kit. Results: Compared with the NS group, the PSP and APS herbal formula significantly improved the WBC, thymus index, spleen index, CD4(+)/CD8(+) ratio, TNF, IFN-gamma, IL-2, and IL-17A in immuno suppressive mice and lung cancer mice (P < 0.05). On the contrary, IL-10 was relatively low in the PSP+APS herbal formula group (P < 0.05). Besides, the PSP+APS herbal formula group induced comparable tumor inhibiting effect with the AMD group (23.3% and 24.1%, respectively). Conclusion: The PSP+APS herbal formula have immunomodulatory effects and anti-tumor activity in mice with of lung cancer. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.