Mineral pitch stimulates humoral, cellular and innate immune responses in mice

AbstractContext: Mineral pitch (MP), a traditional medicine, is proposed to boost immunity in conditions that suppress Th1 cytokines such as AIDS/HIV, tuberculosis, leishmaniasis and cancer.Objective: This study investigates the immunoregulatory mechanisms of MP in innate, humoral and cell-mediated immunity.Materials and methods: Mice given MP (100, 200, 300 or 400 mg/kg, orally) for 10 consecutive days were immunized intravenously with goat RBC or ovalbumin, and investigated for plaque-forming cells (PFC), hemagglutination titer, hypersensitivity response, lymphocyte proliferation and macrophage function.Results: MP increased PFC (330.2 versus 182.2/106 splenocytes) in mice immunized with goat RBC and elicited ovalbumin-specific IgG titer at 400 mg/kg. Increase in Th1 immunity was correlated with the increased level of IFN-γ (724 versus 470 pg/ml) and decreased IL-4 (96 versus 178 pg/ml). CD4+/CD3+ ratio and delayed-type hypersensitivity response also increased to, respectively, 20.62 ± 0.59 (versus 16.4...