Effect of Shi-ka-ron on cytokine production of lymphocytes in mice treated with cyclophosphamide

The effect of Shi-ka-ron (CX) on cytokine production of lymphocytes in mice treated with cyclophosphamide was investigated. Shi-ka-ron, a traditional Chinese prescription, consists of 8 crude Chinese herbal extracts. Its main efficacy is to strengthen the body resistance. We observed that each CX component stimulated interleukine-2 and interferon-gamma production of murine splenic lymphocytes both in vitro and in vivo. IL-2 and IFN-gamma production of splenic lymphocytes were also examined in mice treated with CX combined with cyclophosphamide (CY) in vivo. We found that CX not only could increase IL-2 and IFN-gamma production in vitro, but also in vivo at suboptimal concentration.