Chi-Chiang Yang

The Immunopharmaceutical Effects and Mechanisms of Herb Medicine

In recent years, studies on evaluation of the therapeutic and toxic activity of herbal medicinal products became available and popular. The advances in modern biotechnology have led to discovery of many new active constituents. However, it is a constant challenge to establish the pharmacological basis for efficacy and safety of herbal medicinal products. A better understanding of the effects and bioavailability of phytopharmaceuticals can help in discovering suitable and rational therapies. In this review, we present the bioavailability studies in immune system that has been conducted for some of the more important or widely used phytopharmaceuticals. Furthermore, various new drug targets worthy of using for drug development in immunomodulating herbal medicine area and their regulatory mechanisms are also discussed. Adverse effects, drug interactions, and contraindications are also discussed which show that caution should be exercised when combining phytopharmaceuticals with chemically derived pharmaceutical components.

Pediatric Reference Intervals for Several Biochemical Analytes in School Children in Central Taiwan

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE Reference intervals of biochemical tests for screening for diabetes mellitus and liver and renal function among school children in Central Taiwan have never been documented. Therefore, this study aimed to establish the reference intervals for the above mentioned biochemical tests for pediatric populations. METHODS A total of 4326 subjects, including 2029 kindergarten children, 1624 elementary-school children, 325 junior-high-school children, and 348 teachers were selected randomly in Central Taiwan. All serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine (Cr) and glucose levels were determined using a Beckman Synchron CX5 analyzer. The reference intervals reflected estimates of the 2.5th-97.5th percentiles of non-parametric distributions. RESULTS Adults had significantly higher biochemical analyte values [except for BUN/creatinine (B/C) ratio] than children had. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that biochemical analyte values were significantly higher in male than in female subjects. The concentrations of glucose and Cr increased with age. On the contrary, the B/C ratio decreased with age. CONCLUSION Our study provides new pediatric reference intervals (2.5th-97.5th percentiles) of 60-99 mg/dL for serum glucose concentrations, 8-38 IU/L for ALT, 0.4-1.1 mg/L for Cr, 8.7-18.0 mg/L for BUN, and 10-34 for B/C ratio. The B/C ratio in children was higher than those of adults, possibly due to that children had a higher intake of protein.

In vivo Th1 and Th2 cytokine modulation effects of Rhodiola rosea standardised solution and its major constituent, salidroside.

Although Rhodiola rosea (L.) is used widely and disseminated in Oriental medicine, its in vivo effects on cytokine modulation remain unclear. Among the biologically active components of Rhodiola rosea, salidroside was suggested to be the most active compound. The objectives of this study were to assess the toxicity and cytokine modulation effects of Rhodiola rosea standardised solution (RRSS) and salidroside. Quantitative high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis determined the content of salidroside in RRSS to be 4.39% (w/v). Groups of Balb/c mice were fed daily with different doses of RRSS or salidroside, with CAPE or distilled water used as positive and negative controls, respectively. The acute and subacute toxicity tests did not reveal weight differences, pathological changes, or abnormalities in liver or kidney function indices among the treated groups. Ovalbumin‐primed mouse cytokine assays demonstrated that both T helper (Th1) (IL‐2 and IFN‐γ) and Th2 (IL‐4 and IL‐10) cytokines were significantly increased by feeding with RRSS in a dose‐ and time‐dependent manner (p < 0.05). Moreover, the cytokine modulation effects of salidroside were less prominent than that of RRSS treatment and not dose‐dependent. These findings suggest that increased secretion of both Th1‐ and Th2‐pattern cytokines can be achieved with RRSS and salidroside treatment. Copyright

Complementary Usage of Rhodiola crenulata (L.) in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients: The Effects on Cytokines and T Cells

Although chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an inflammatory disease predominantly involving T cells, no study of Rhodiola as an immunomodulator in COPD patients has been reported. In this study, COPD patients took Rhodiola crenulata 500 mg (n = 38) or placebo (starch/phosphate buffered saline) (n = 19) daily for 12 weeks and were compared with untreated, age‐matched, and sex‐matched non‐COPD control subjects. Our results showed that serum levels of IL‐2, IL‐10, and IFN‐γ in COPD patients before treatment are significantly higher than levels in non‐COPD controls (p < 0.05). A significant decrease in IFN‐γ was seen in the Rhodiola treatment group (p < 0.05) but not in the placebo group (p > 0.05). The results suggested that Rhodiola treatment had beneficial antiinflammation effects, lower COPD assessment test score and decreased high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein, on COPD patients (p < 0.05). The effects of Rhodiola treatment on COPD patients were shown to decrease the IFN‐γ concentration and CD8+ count but increase the expressions of CD4+CD25+FOXP3+ and CD4+CD25+CD45+FOXP3+ in the blood significantly (p < 0.05). This is the first trial using Rhodiola as a complementary therapy for COPD patients. T cells play an important role in the pathogenesis of COPD through the increased expression of CD8+ T cells and IFN‐γ and may be a viable target for potential therapy. Copyright

Apoptotic death mode of mitomycin C-treated HeLa cells and cellular localization of mitomycin C–induced P-glycoprotein

Mitomycin C (MMC) is an active antineoplastic agent and is suggested to induce apoptosis in a caspase- dependent manner in human gastric, bladder, and breast cancer cells. In this study, the death mode of human cervical cancer cells (HeLa) induced by MMC and the cellular localization of MMC-induced P-glycoprotein (P-gp) were investigated. The results of caspase-3 activity, Annexin V binding, and DNA fragmentation suggested that the degree of caspase-dependent apoptosis induced by MMC was in a dose-, but not time-dependent, manner. Further, in low-dose (0.0299 μM) and long-term (2 months) treatment with MMC, P-gp is itself extruded from the cells and colocalized with nuclear DNA and the overexpression was achieved.

Human Papilloma Virus Infection in Cervical and Oral Cancers in Taiwan Compared

The correlation of human papilloma virus (HPV) infection with cervical and oral cancer was investigated in this study. The specimens include 27 biopsies with cervical cancer, and 29 cases of cervical scrape from normal adult, 27 paraffin-embedded biopsies of oral cancer tissue and 16 cases of normal oral tissue. HPV for the specimens were determined by PCR-based method. Among 27 biopsies with cervical cancer, 18 cases were identified as HPV. In these 18 HPV positive specimen, 9 (50%) were identified as HPV type 16, 2 (11.1%) as HPV type 18, 1 (5.5%) as mix infection of HPV types16 and 18, 1 (5.5%) as HPV type 35, 1 (5.5%) as HPV-45, and 4 (22.2%) as unidentified type of HPV. In 29 cervical specimens of control group, no viral infection was detected. The types of HPV identified from the cervical cancer tissue seem to correlate with the severity of cervical diseases. Among oral specimens, no HPV was found. These results suggested that HPV is the viral factor associated with cervical cancer, however, the relationship between HPV and oral cancer may be low in Taiwan area. It suggests that HPV infection is not a predominant etiology of oral cancer in Taiwan.