EFFICACY OF TRADITIONAL CHINESE HERBAL THERAPY IN-VITRO - A MODEL SYSTEM FOR ATOPIC ECZEMA - INHIBITION OF CD23 EXPRESSION ON BLOOD MONOCYTES

Recently, there has been growing interest in the use of traditional Ch inese herbal therapy (TCHT) decoctions for the treatment of atopic ecz ema (AE). The mode of action of this treatment is still unknown, and i n order to investigate this we have analysed the effect of an extract of these herbs (TCHTE) on interleukin 4 (IL-4)-induced CD23 expression on peripheral blood monocytes from nonatopic subjects. We found that TCHTE inhibited CD23 expression up to 60% (P < 0.001), whereas the pla cebo extract had no significant effect on CD23 expression, This inhibi tion was dose-dependent, and TCHTE was effective at a concentration of 250 mu g/ml (P = 0.001), if TCHTE or placebo was added after IL-4, th e action of TCHTE could still be seen at 12 h. This inhibition was not due to cell death, as peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) cult ured with TCHTE or placebo at a concentration used in these experiment s had a similar viability to control cultures, Downregulation of the l ow affinity receptors for IgE on antigen-presenting cells in patients with AE may contribute to the benefit observed following treatment wit h TCHT.