Allergic diseases such as bronchial asthma and atopic dermatitis develop by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Recently treatment / management guidelines on bronchial asthma and many other disorders have been published, and they are utilized in clinical practice. However, the clinical features of the patients and the causes of the diseases vary. Therefore, personalized medical care (tailor-made medicine) is necessary for the improvement of QOL.
We described the current position of Japanese and Chinese medicine in regard to tailor-made medicine from the viewpoint of allergic disorders, including the results of research concerning genome and post-genome factors (pharmacogenomics, pharmacoprotemics and pharmacometabonomics) by the authors.

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The present review summarizes the antidiabetic activity of Fuscoporia oblique (Fuscoporia Murr.) and Samallanthus sonchifolius (Compositae), traditional medicines, in KK-Ay mice, an animal model of genetically type 2 diabetes with hyperinsulinemia. The water extract of Fuscoporia oblique (FO) reduced the blood glucose of KK-Ay mice 4 hours after a single oral administration when compared with the control. FO reduced the blood glucose of KK-Ay mice 6 weeks after repeated administration, and also significantly decreased the plasma insulin of KK-Ay mice under similar conditions. However, FO did not affect the blood glucose in normal mice. FO decreased the blood glucose in an insulin tolerance test. These results suggest that the antidiabetic activity of FO is derived, at least in part, from a decrease in plasma insulin, due to the decrease of insulin resistance.
The water extract of the leaf of Samallanthus sonchifolius (Yacon) reduced the blood glucose and cholesterol of KK-Ay mice 6 weeks after repeated administration. However, Yacon did not affect the blood glucose in normal mice. Yacon also improved hyperglycemia after glucose tolerance. Yacon tended to decrease the blood glucose in an insulin tolerance test. These results suggest that Yacon is useful for hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia of type 2 diabetes.

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Maoto, Kampo medicine, has been shown to inhibit the motility of highly metastatic osteosarcoma, FBJ-LL cells. In the present study, maoto was found to suppress the liver-metastasis of FBJ-LL cells and had no effect on the primary tumor growth. The expression pattern of cytokines in the serum from the tumor-bearing mice given maoto approximated that of the serum from normal mice and was different from that in the serum obtained from the tumor-bearing mice given water. Maoto suppressed the activation of matrix metalloproteinases involved in metastatic processes. On the other hand, juzentaihoto, which has been reported to suppress cancer metastasis via activation of the immune system, had no effect on either liver-metastasis of FBJ-LL cells or primary tumor growth. These results suggest that maoto is a candidate for a novel inhibitor of metastasis, and that the inhibition mechanism of metastasis is different from that of juzentaihoto.

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Background: It was shown that a traditional Chinese medicine, maobushisaishinto (MBST), had adjuvant effects on influenza vaccination in an animal experiment and an open trial in elderly subjects.
Purpose: To examine the adjuvant effects of MBST in a closer clinical experiment.
Methods: Forty-seven healthy subjects between 20 and 71 y of age were randomly assigned to two groups (control and MBST groups) in a double-blind manner. The subjects in the MBST group (n=23) took 1.68g spray-dried powder of MBST/day for two weeks; the rest (control subjects, n=24) took the same amount of indistinguishable placebo. Then subjects were vaccinated against influenza viruses (A/H1N1, A/H3N2 and B). Serum hemagglutination inhibition titers were measured at weeks 0, 1, 2, 4, and 12.
Results: The titers against the three viruses were increased continuously for the first two weeks and leveled off. However, MBST was not superior to placebo in any titers.
Conclusion: We could not find any adjuvant effects of MBST in this experimental condition.

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The color of Geranium Herb, which is a quite popular folk medicine for intestinal disorders such as diarrhea, was investigated for the quality evaluation by means of colorimeter. The antidiarrheal effect of Geranium Herb is considered to be due to tannin, which is a kind of polyphenols. On various Geranium Herb, we examined the correlation between the total polyphenol content and color of both the powder and water extract treated with the iron (III) chloride TS. As the result, we found that Geranium Herb with a higher total polyphenol content tended to show lower color index L* value in the water extract treated with the iron (III) chloride TS. In addition, the total polyphenol quantity was high, while L* value was low in the foliar part. On the other hand, total polyphenol quantity was low, while L* value was high in the stem part. Therefore, when the effect of total polyphenol is expected, Geranium Herb with a low ratio of stem part is thought to be of good quality, and it is considered that color index L* value of the Geranium Herb water extract treated with the iron (III) chloride TS is available in the quality evaluation for Geranium Herb.

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