Artemisinin and its derivatives enhance T lymphocyte-mediated immune responses in normal mice and accelerate immunoreconstitution of mice with syngeneic bone marrow transplantation.

Artemisinin and its derivatives, dihydroartemisinin and sodium artesunate, enhanced DNA synthesis of mouse spleen cells that had been activated with alloantigens or T cell mitogen Con A, but not B cell mitogen LPS, both in vitro and ex vivo. In vivo experiments showed that DTH response and antibody response against sheep erythrocytes were augmented in sodium artesunate-treated animals. In addition, sodium artesunate, a representative of these compounds, increased IL-2 production from mouse splenocytes stimulated with Con A. Because of the long-term T cell function deficiency in mice after bone marrow transplantation, the effect of sodium artesunate on the immune reconstitution was assessed. The results demonstrated that 10 mg/kg sodium artesunate significantly accelerated the immune reconstitution in mice after syngeneic bone marrow transplantation. These data suggested that artemisinin and its derivatives appeared to promote T cell function selectively, and these compounds had a potential application for the recovery of immune function.