Effect of biphenyl dimethyl dicarboxylate on the cellular and nonspecific immunosuppressions by ketoconazole in mice.

The effect of biphenyl dimethyl dicarboxylate (PMC) on the cellular and nonspecific immunosuppressions by ketoconazole (KCZ) was investigated in ICR mice. PMC at a dose of 6 mg/kg was administered orally to mice daily for 14 consecutive days. KCZ was suspended in RPMI 1640 medium and orally administered at 160 mg/kg/day 2 hrs after the administration of PMC. Immune responses of the delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) reaction to sheep red blood cells (SRBC), phagocytic activity and natural killer (NK) cell activity were evaluated. DTH reaction to SRBC was enhanced to normal level by the combination of PMC and KCZ, compared with treatment of KCZ alone. In the combination of PMC and KCZ, as compared with the treatment of KCZ alone, there were also significant increases in activities of natural killer (NK) cells and phagocytes along with circulating leukocytes. These findings indicate that PMC shows a significant restoration from the immunotoxic status induced by KCZ.