Cistanche salsa extract acts similarly to protein-bound polysaccharide-K (PSK) on various types of cell lines

Abstract

Cistanche salsa (C.A. Meyer) G. Beck, belonging to the family Orobanchaceae is a parasitic plant that is used as an oriental medicinal tonic in Japan. In a previous study, we reported the immunomodulatory effect of C. salsa extract dialysate (CSD) on the human B-cell lines BALL-1 and Namalwa. In this study, we investigated the effects of CSD on 18 cell lines to obtain more information, with protein-bound polysaccharide-K (PSK) as a reference. We found that with regard to cell growth and antibody production, the responses of almost all cell lines to CSD and PSK were identical. CSD inhibited cell proliferation in several cell lines, including Namalwa. In contrast, it induced cell proliferation in other cell lines, including BALL-1 and T-cell lines. With regard to antibody production, CSD and PSK enhanced IgM production in BALL-1 and IgG production in the plasma B-cell line HMy-2. Furthermore, on gel filtration column chromatography, the same CSD fraction inhibited cell proliferation in Namalwa and the mouse melanoma cell line B16. These results suggest that C. salsa is a biological response modifier similar to PSK and exerts an immunomodulatory effect on both cellular and humoral immunity, and a direct anti-cancer effect.