Immune Enhancers
By Marcia Zimmerman, C.N.
The immune system is the body's ultimate defense against infectious agents such as bacteria and viruses. It also protects against genetic mistakes made in cellular replication that result in tumor or cancer growth. The immune system is complex, containing many interacting blood cells, proteins and chemicals. A healthy immune system contains elements that are in balance with one another. In a compromised immune system, the components are unbalanced and unable to protect the body against harmful agents or processes.
Western medical doctors seek to bolster immune system activity by providing either chemotherapeutic agents such as methotrexate, an antimetabolite, that arrest aberrant cellular growth, or bioengineered molecules similar to elements of our own immune complex, such as the alpha-interferon used for genital warts, that will fight for us. The modern medicine bag also contains vaccines, which may contain either dead or weakened bacteria or viruses or other materials such as inactive toxins. Upon injection, the vaccine, which is typically not strong enough to cause an infection, stimulates the body's immune system to produce antibodies against the perceived pathogen. Despite their overall saftey, vaccines and other methods can sometimes produce side effects and upset the immune system's balance.
In contrast, traditional medical practitioners use botanicals and other natural substances to stimulate or potentiate the body's own defense mechanisms rather than substitute for them. This way the body's natural balance is preserved, and side effects are either not present or substantially reduced. Although both vaccines and botanicals elicit an immune response, vaccines boost the body's response to a specific pathogen whereas botanicals tend to enhance overall immunity. Immune-potentiating botanicals are also used to increase the effectiveness of drugs and reduce side effects. The Chinese call this Fu Zheng therapy, which means to support the body's natural balance.
Many of the following botanicals—shiitake, maitake, licorice, echinacea, ligustrum and astragalus—owe their effects to a group of polysaccharides. These complex sugars have the ability to activate macrophages, which are white blood cells that process antigens and present them to T cells (lymphoid cells that migrate from the bone to the thymus). These polysaccharides also stimulate T cell formation and differentiation, as well as activate a group of more than 25 blood proteins that play a vital role in the body's immune defenses.
Ligustrum (Ligustrum lucidum) fruit has been used for several centuries in Chinese medicine. Substantial empirical evidence indicates ligustrum possesses immune-modulating effects, including cancer inhibition.28 Today, ligustrum is an important herb for immune-system restoration after chemotherapy (as part of Fu Zheng therapy), as are astragalus and shiitake. Him-che Yeung, Ph.D., of the Institute of Chinese Medicine in Los Angeles, suggests that ligustrum increases white blood cell count and shows antitumor and antibacterial effects.29
An in vitro study of human cellular response compared the T cell response of 19 cancer patients with 15 healthy subjects. Researchers found that cells pretreated with ligustrum extract returned to normal more quickly after they had been exposed to chemotherapeutic agents.30 They attributed this activity to a nonspecific immune activation by ligustrum.
28. Sun Y, et al. Preliminary observations on the effects of the Chinese medicinal herbs Astragalus membranaceus and Ligustrum lucidum on lymphocyte blastogenic response. J Biol Response Modifiers 1983;2(3):227.
29. Yeung H. Handbook of Chinese herbs and formulas. Volume 1. Los Angeles: Institute of Chinese Medicine; 1985. p 405.
30. Sun Y, et al. Immune restoration and/or augmentation of local graft versus host reaction by traditional Chinese medical herbs. Cancer 1983;52:70.