Effect Of Yiqi Bushen Granule (Sic) On The Peripheral Natural Killer Cell And Gamma Delta T-Cell In The Patients With Minimal Residual Leukemia

Objective: To analyze the changes in peripheral natural killer T-cells (NKT) and gammadelta T-cells (gamma delta T-cell) in patients with minimal residual leukemia (MRL) before and after being treated with Yiqi Bushen Granule ((sic) YBG) in order to determine their significance in prognosis of the disease. Methods: Before and after treatment, the changes in 36 patients (16 males and 20 females) receiving long-term (more than 3 months) YBG therapy were analyzed using multi-parameter flow cytometry, with 34 healthy persons (19 males and 15 females) acting as controls. Results: The absolute value and percentage of NKT cells and gamma delta T-cells were all significantly raised after treatment, for NKT cells, 0.52% +/- 0.39% to 0.83% +/- 0.66% and 7.25 +/- 7.77 cell/mu L to 12.86 +/- 11.99 cell/mu L, for gamma delta T-cells, 6.08% +/- 3.03% to 7.24% +/- 2.78% and 83.97 +/- 48.09 cell/mu L to 110.53 +/- 54.12 cell/mu L, respectively (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Conclusion: YBG could regulate the immune function and elevate the amount of NKT cells and gamma delta T-cells, thus to kill or suppress the residual leukemic cell in the body, which might be one of the mechanisms of YBG in prolonging the disease-free survival in MRL patients.