Vol.52 No.9 September 2004
Effects of the Chinese traditional medicines Kakkon-to, Hochu-ekki-to, and Juzen-taiho-to on the antimicrobial activity of clarithromycin in combination with rifampicin against Mycobacterium avium complex within THP-1 human macrophages and A-549 human type II alveolar epithelial cells
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Shimane University School of Medicine, Izumo, Shimane, Japan
Abstract
Since Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) infections are very refractory, the development of new drugs with strong anti-MAC activity or therapeutic regimens using ordinary antimycobacterial drugs in combination with immunomodulators is urgently desired. In this study, we studied the effects of the Chinese traditional medicines Kakkon-to, Hochu-ekki-to, and Juzen-taiho-to, which exhibit immunopotentiating activity, on the antimicrobial activity of clarithromycin (CAM) in combination with rifampicin (RFP) against MAC organisms replicating within THP-1 human macrophage (M&phis; ) and A-549 human type II alveolar epithelial cell lines. When MAC-infected cells were cultured for 5 days in a 5% FBS-RPMI 1640 medium in the presence or absence of CAM/RFP at Cmax doses (CAM, 2.3 μ g/mL; RFP, 6.2 μ g/mL) with or without the Chinese herbal medicines at concentrations of 1 μ g/mL to 100 μ g/mL, CAM/RFP significantly eliminated the intracellular organisms within THP-1 M&phis; s and A-549 cells. The Chinese traditional medicines, however, failed to inhibit intracellular bacterial growth. Moreover, these herbal medicines did not potentiate the activity of CAM/RFP against intracellular MAC organisms.
Key word
Mycobacterium avium complex, antimicrobial drug, Kakkon-to, Hochu-ekki-to, Juzen-taiho-to
Received
July 5, 2004
Accepted
July 23, 2004
Jpn. J. Chemother. 52 (9): 486-489, 2004
