Effect of emitted qi in enhancing the induction in vitro of lymphokines in relation to antitumor mechanisms

The effect of the emitted qi in enhancing induction in vitro of Iymphokines including Interleukin-2 (IL-2), Interferon-gamma (IFN-r) and Lymphotoxin (LT) from spleen cells of C57BL/ 6 mice have been studied in this experiment. The mice of the experimental group received qi emitted by the qigong master Ru Jiefu for 30 min. each time on days 1, 3, 5, 7. On day 10 the mice were killed and spleen cell suspensions were made (5 X 10[power 6] /ml) in several parallel portions for inducing Iymphokines. The 1st portion of the cell suspensions was incubated with 10 µg/ml Con A in 37°C, 5% Co[sub 2] for 24 hrs. and then the supernatants were taken for titration of IL-2 with IL-2-dependent cell line (CTLL-2) by the method of determination of [sub 3]H-TdR incorporation. The 2nd portion of the cell suspensions were incubated with the same amount of Con A as above for 72 hrs. and the supernatants were taken for titration of IFN-r with the method of cytopathic effect inhibition assay. The 3rd portion of the cell suspensions, by adding 10µ/ml PHA-P, were incubated as above for 48 hrs. and then the supernatants were taken and the LT activity was calculated through determining the OD[sub 570nm] of target cells L[sub 929]. The results showed that: (1) The activity of IL-2 in the control group was 74.5 ± 22.34µ/ml, which was much lower than that of the experimental group (125.6±32.45µ/ml). The difference between them is very significant (P<0.01). (2) The titer of IFN-r of the experimental group was 460.0 ± 257.41µ/ml, which was much higher than that of the control group (166.4 ± 61.82µ/ml). The difference is also very significant (P< 0.01). (3) The LT activity was also enhanced in the experimental group (74.19 ± 16.80µ/ml) as compared with that in the control group (61.07 <6.22µ/ml). The difference is significant (P< 0.05). These results demonstrated that the emitted qi has the ability to enhance the induction of Iymphokines with an anti-tumor function, including IL-2, IFN-r, and LT, which indicates that the emitted qi’s action against tumors probably through the enhancement of an anti-tumor immune function. Further studies are under way.