Immunomodulatory Effects of Hominis Placenta Extract Injection into an Acupuncture Point on the Experimental Subcutaneous Tumor Model of Mice

Hominis placenta (HP) has been used as an agent for promoting physiological function in traditional asian medicine. The present study was peformed to investigate whether HP acupuncture treatment in an experimental tumor mice model inhibit tumor growth through immunomodulatory effects. Mice were inoculated subcutaneously with colon26-L5 cells on the back. Three days after tumor inoculation, HP herbal acupuncture treatment was conducted on BL18 acupoint every other day for three weeks. HP Herbal acupuncture treatment significantly suppressed the primary tumor growth and prolonged survival rate. To evaluate immunomodulatory effect of HP acupuncture, splenocytes proliferation assay, fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) and ELISA for IFN- ${\gamma}$, and IL-4 cytokine level. HP herbal acupuncture enhanced the mitogenic activity of Balb/c whole splenocytes induced by various mitogenic stimuli and increased immune cell population such as T cell, B cell, Th cell, Tc cell and Macrophages. HP herbal acupuncture caused a marked increase of production of Th1 cytokine (IFN- ${\gamma}$ ,) and decrease of production of Th2 cytokine (IL-4). These results indicated that HP herbal acupuncture suppresses tumor growth through a mechanism leading to a Th1 dominant immune state.