We studied administering
Sam So Eum (SSE) as a herbal medicine to treat
asthma in mice and we discussed the mechanism of restoring the immuno-modulating
cytokines such as
IL-10 and IFN-gamma. The mice treated with SSE did not show any significant variation in their
body weight and they looked very similar to the controlled ones. The SSE-treated mice showed reduced levels of airway responsiveness to
methacholine, and these levels were initially elevated by the induction of
asthma compared to the control group. The SSE elevated production level of IFN-gamma, which was down-regulated upon induction of
asthma. This result implies that SSE can change the Th1/Th2 ratio through Th1-skewing reactions, and that SSE can decrease
airway hyperresponsiveness by changing the Th1/Th2 ratio. The treatment with SSE also restored the
IL-10 level to that of the naive condition. This means that SSE reduced the airway
inflammation through this pathway. The
ovalbumin (OVA)-specific antibody (total Ig) production in the serum was also decreased upon SSE treatment.
Prednisolone (PD) was used as positive control. The effectiveness of SSE was almost the same as that of PD. These results suggest the possibility of using SSE for the treatment of patients with
asthma, and its therapeutic efficacy involves restoring the IFN-gamma and
IL-10 levels.