Enhancement of Lymphokine-Activated Killer Cell Cytotoxicity by Mistletoe Plant Extracts.

Anthroposophical cancer therapies focus on the use of mistletoe (MT) preparations and extracts from European mistletoe (Viscum album l.) belong to the complementary therapeutic regimens. Although widely used in Europe as an additional therapy in the treatment of patients suffering from different malignancies, these cancer therapies have remained relatively unknown in North America. To date, mistletoe is the most commonly used complementary cancer drug in Germany, applied as monotherapy or in combination with conventional therapies. ABNOBAviscum fraxini is a standardized extract from all parts of fresh mistle, obtained from the ash tree. This study aims to investigate the effects of MT on the activity of lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cell cytotoxicity in vivo.

Here, we demonstrate that in vivo treatment of mice with a standardized MT plant extract results in activation and function of LAK cells. We show an enhanced cytotoxicity against the NK-sensitive target cell line YAC-1 by flow cytometry. Our data show that in vivo application of MT can double the cytotoxic activity against malignant disease and suggest that one mechasim of action of MT is the induction of LAK-cell mediated immune response.