Immunoprotective activity of the galactoside-specific lectin from mistletoe after tumor destructive therapy in glioma patients

Journal/Book: Anticancer-Res. 16 (6B), 3799-802. 1997;

Abstract: 35 patients suffering from malignant stage III/IV glioma were enrolledinto a prospectively randomized clinical trial. All patients wereprovided with standard oncologic treatment (neurosurgery, radiation,basic clinical care according to protocol and indication) and randomlydivided into a) treatment group: receiving subcutaneous injections of aML (a galactoside-specific lectin from mistletoe) standardized mistletoeextract, 1 ng ML-1/kg BW, twice a week for 3 months, starting on day 1post surgery, b) control group: without additional complementarytreatment. Immunophenotyping of peripheral blood leukocytes was done byflow cytometry (pre surgery; day 1, week 1, month 3 and 6 post surgery)to evaluate the immunomodulating capacity of ML-1 standardized mistletoeextract. Standard tumor destructive treatment of glioma proved to besuppressive for peripheral blood lymphocytes, since all subsets testedrevealed statistically significant down regulation. Unlike thelymphocyte counts and activities of patients from the control group whogave preoperative values after 3-6 months), mistletoe treatment induceda statistically significant up regulation of cell counts (CD-3, CD4,CD-8 cells) and activities (CD-25, HLA/DR positive cells) after 3months, as compared to preoperative values. Obviously, a strongimmunoprotective/immunostimulatory effect was induced by the treatmentof glioma patients with ML-1 standardized mistletoe extract whichcorrelated with an improved quality of life, as determined by a standardquestionnaire (Spitzer). Author.

Keyword(s): BRAIN-NEOPLASMS/ IM (immunology)

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