Shark Cartilage Modulates Immune Responses in Stage III Breast Cancer Patients

Shark cartilage has been shown to have some inhibitory effects on angiogenesis, metastasis, cell adhesion and proteolysis. Patients and In this study, we evaluated the effect of shark cartilage on immune response in three treatment session of 3 weeks, 6 weeks and 12 weeks on stage III invasive ductal carcinoma patients (n=15) compared to patients treated with a starch placebo (n=15). The results indicated a significant increase after an initial 3 weeks treatment period in the level of IFNγ, but no significant decrease in the level of IL-4 before and after the treatment with shark cartilage. After 6 weeks, we noticed a significant increase (P<0.05) in the level of IFNγ, but no significant increase in the level of IL-4 was observed after the treatment with shark cartilage. After 12 weeks, a significant increase in the level of IFNγ and a significant decrease in the level of IL-4 after the treatment with shark cartilage was observed; while there was no significant difference in the levels of both IFNγ and IL-4 at 3, 6 and 12 weeks treatment in the placebo group. We also evaluated the lymphocytes proliferation in pre and post treatments with shark cartilage or a placebo. Our findings showed a significant increase in lymphocyte proliferation in the three-week treatment. It is concluded that shark cartilage can stimulate immune response in a short period of time after treatment with it and modulate immune response in longer treatment duration toward Th1 cytokine pattern.