ABSTRACT
Objective To study the influence of serum containing Fuzheng Toudu Qudu Recipe, a Chinese formula with the actions of supporting healthy qi to expel and remove toxicity, on serum levels of interleukin 2 (IL-2) and soluble interleukin 2 receptor (sIL-2R) at different stages of CD34+derived dendritic cells (DC) of patients with minimal residual disease of myelogenous leukemia ( MRD-L) , and to explore the biological mechanism of Fuzheng Toudu Qudu Recipe in promoting CD34+ to transform into DC in MRD-L patients. Methods Bone marrow mononuclear cells ( BMMC) were separated from the bone marrow of acute myeloid leukemia patients at complete remission stage by using Ficoll centrifugation. CD34+ cells were isolated by using immuno-magnetic mircobeads method, and then were cultured with various concentrations of Chinese medicine medicated serum and cytokines in vitro for the induction of DC. The morphologic characteristics of DC were observed with the inverted phase contrast microscope, and the expression levels of DC surface molecules such as CD83, CD80, CD86, CD1a and HLA-DR were detected by using flow cytometry. On culturing day 0, 6 and 9, serum levels of IL-2 and sIL-2R of each group were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ( ELISA). Results ( 1) Chinese medicine medicated serum combined with cytokines was effective on promoting CD34+ to differentiate into DC with typical morphology, and inducing DC to have high expression of CD80, CD83, CD86 and HLA-DR, which differed from those in fetal calf serum (FCS) group and blank rabbit serum group (P0.05) . At the same time point, combination groups had lower IL-2 content than the blank rabbit serum group (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Conclusion Fuzheng Toudu Qudu Recipe is effective on increasing serum content of IL-2 and reducing sIL-2R content, and the changes of cytokine contents are more obvious along with the maturity of DC, which indicates that the recipe plays positive effect in the process of promoting CD34+cells to differentiate into DC.