Bing de ling, a Chinese herbal formula, stimulates multifaceted immunologic responses in mice

Bing de ling is a Chinese herbal formula most commonly used in complementar y medical settings against viral disorders. We have found that bing de ling potentiates upregulation of immune activity when administered to mice in d osages proportional to those used clinically. These mice demonstrated signi ficant elevation of interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) p roduction in splenocytes and enhancement of macrophage, natural killer cell , and lymphokine-activated killer cell cytotoxicity. These data are consist ent with bing de ling's clinically observed efficacy against viruses and id entify the formula as a promising candidate for clinical trials against div erse diseases that may respond to increased immunologic activity.