Narrow Results

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been used for prevention and treatment of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Hong Kong during the outbreak in spring 2003. We investigated the immunomodulating effects of an innovative TCM regimen derived from two herbal formulas (Sang Ju Yin and Yu Ping Feng San) for treating febrile diseases. Thirty-seven healthy volunteers were given the oral TCM regimen daily for 14 days. Peripheral venous blood samples were taken on days 0, 15 and 29 for hematology, biochemistry and immunology tests, including the measurement of blood lymphocyte subsets and plasma T-helper lymphocyte types 1 and 2 cytokines and receptor. After 3 months, 23 of the volunteers participated in a control study without TCM treatment for the same time course of blood tests. Two volunteers withdrew on day 2, due to headache and dizziness. All others remained well without any side effects. No participants showed significant changes in their blood test results, except that the T-lymphocyte CD4/CD8 ratio increased significantly from 1.31 ± 0.50 (mean ± SD) on day 0 to 1.41 ± 0.63 on day 15 (p < 0.02), and reduced to 1.32 ± 0.47 on day 29 (p < 0.05). In the control study, there were no changes in the CD4/CD8 ratio. The transient increase in CD4/CD8 ratio was likely due to the TCM intake. We postulate that the administration of the innovative TCM may have beneficial immunomodulatory effects for preventing viral infections including SARS.

Folium isatidis is a native Chinese herbaceous plant widely used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years. However, few studies have focused on the leaves of Isatis indigotica. In this report, we isolated a series of four fractions (I–IV) from Folium isatidis and explored the antiviral activity of each tested extract. The extracts were active against a panel of RNA and DNA viruses in vitro, namely influenza A virus (IAV), coxsackie virus B3 (CVB3), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and adenovirus type 7 (Ad-7). Oral administration of 200 mg/kg/d of fraction III in mice exerted strong antiviral effects in viral replication, accompanied by prolonged survival rate, attenuated lung tissue damage as well as significant reductions in pulmonary virus titers and lung index. Our results provide the first biochemical evidence that Folium isatidis and its extracts could be used as potential antiviral agent in the postexposure prophylaxis for multiple viral infections.