Objective: This study aimed to investigate whether Channa striatus capsule induces sputum and cytokine conversion in pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) patients. Methods: Randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind pilot study was conducted to pulmonary TB patients who admitted to Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sam Ratulangi, Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. A total of 36 pulmonary TB patients were randomly divided into two equal groups (n = 18) including one group received standart antituberculosis drugs plus Channa striatus capsule and another group received standart antituberculosis drugs plus placebo. Channa striatus capsule was given at a dose of 2 g each time, 3 times per day, for 12 weeks. The levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interferon (IFN)-γ, and interleukin (IL)-10 were analyses using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. Results: The rate of positive sputum smear decline was more pronounced in the Channa striatus group but did not reach statistically different value between groups. The levels of TNF-α, IFN-γ, and IL-10 were not significantly different in Channa striatus group compared to placebo group at baseline (week 0). But at week 12, the supplementation of Channa striatus capsule significantly decreased TNF-α, IFN-γ, and IL-10 levels compared to baseline. In placebo groups, there were no significant differences for IL-10 levels at week 12, but the levels of TNF-α and IFN-γ significantly decreased. Conclusion: Adjunctive supplementation of Channa striatus capsules accelerated the beneficial therapeutic effect of TB chemotherapy by improving cytokine response. [J Exp Integr Med 2013; 3(3.000): 237-242

BackgroundRecent studies have shown that Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination is inversely related to asthma, a Th2 cell-associated with allergic disease, which BCG in humans induces Th1-cell immune responses and prevents airway remodeling.ObjectiveTo investigate whether thrice BCG vaccinations are clinically effective and could induce laboratory improvement compared with placebo on phase 1 (12 weeks) and single BCG vaccination on phase 2 of the study, then finding out whether the effect might last until 9 months after thrice vaccination and 9 months after single vaccination on adult atopic extrinsic asthma.MethodsAccording to the Global Initiative for Asthma criteria, 40 mild to moderate persistent atopic asthma patients were randomly assigned in a double-blind fashion into groups that received intra-dermal injection of 0.1 mL of BCG (n = 20) or 0.1 mL of placebo (n = 20) on the first day. On the first phase, subjects on BCG vaccinations were given intradermal injections 3 times on the deltoid region every 4 weeks. On the second phase, at the 12th week, the placebo group was given BCG vaccination once, and this group became the single BCG group. The symptom score (SS) and drug score (DS), lung function, eosinophil blood count (EBC), total serum immunoglobulin E, interferon-γ (IFN-γ), interleukin 4, and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) were examined on the first phase (before the treatment and at the 12th week) and on the second phase (on the sixth and ninth months after the third vaccination for thrice BCG group or after single BCG for control group) to monitor the efficacy.ResultsThere were some improvements of asthma SS (P < 0.05) and DS (P < 0.05), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (P < 0.05), peak expiratory flow rate (P < 0.05), EBC (P > 0.05), IFN-γ (P < 0.05), and TGF-β1 (P < 0.05) on thrice BCG group compared with prevaccination and with placebo on the first phase and second phase of the study compared with single BCG (formerly placebo).ConclusionsBased on the previous findings, we could confirm that thrice BCG vaccinations proved to be better than the placebo group and single vaccination. The efficacy of thrice BCG vaccinations on asthma was detected by the improvement of SS, DS, forced expiratory volume in 1 second, peak expiratory flow rate, EBC, IFN-γ, and TGF-β1 until 9 months from the last vaccination without any side effects.