A review on protective effect of herbal medical on immunotoxicity

Introduction: Cyclophosphamide (CTX) is a chemotherapy drug used to treat various types of cancer. It works by slowing or stopping cell growth. Administration of CTX causes hematopoietic depression, gastrointestinal disorders and alopecia. Immunosuppression is a common side effect of long term CTX therapy in cancer patients. Therefore, there is an increasing interest in finding and effective compounds to reduce the toxic side effect of CTX. Among the various strategies that have been put forth to prevent CTX-induced immunotoxicity, the use of phytochemicals has received considerable interest. Materials and method: Appropriate keywords were used to search through PubMed, Google Scholar, and Sciverse. All relevant results published from 1990 to date were chosen for final review. This review summarizes recent findings about the possible protective mechanisms of more than 42 plants or their active ingredients against CTX-induced immunotoxicity. Results: Although there are several plants shown to be effective in animal models, no study was carried out on human subjects. According to the results; we can claim that plants and their active ingredients are good candidates for alternative adjuvant chemotherapy in reducing the immunotoxicity of CTX. Discussion: CTX is a cytotoxic drug that can suppress both humoral and cellular immunity, but its mechanism of action is very complicated. Immunomodulatory agents used with chemotherapy drugs appear to reduce myelosuppression and enhance immune response. In fact, combining immunomodulatory agents such as many traditional medicinal herbs and chemotherapy drugs are used to improve immunity and quality of life performance status, as well as reduce the toxicity of chemotherapy potential in traditional medicine. The hematopoietic system is continually renewed from hematopoietic stem cells and progenitor cells. Damaged or loss of stem cells of the bone marrow unable to regenerate new blood cells result in thrombocytopenia and leucopoenia. Administration of extracts was found to induce the neutrophilia and leucocytosis probably by activating macrophages. Activated macrophages secrete a large number of substances, including a colony stimulating factor and interleukin. These substances are known to cause leukocytosis. Plant extracts enhanced the weight of lymphoid organs. This increase in cell numbers may be considered responsible for the weight increase of the spleen and thymus. This may be partly due to the stimulatory effect of plant extracts on the lymphocytes and BMC cells, which finally home in thethymus. The various plant-derived compounds, including alkaloids, Quinones, flavonoids, saponins, terpenoids, phenol carboxylic acids, and polysaccharides have immunostimulatory activity.

Keywords:

Cyclophosphamide , Herbal medicine , Immunotoxicity