shark cartilage modulates immune responses in stage iii breast cancer patients

introduction: shark cartilage has been shown to have some inhibitory effects on angiogenesis, metastasis, cell adhesion and proteolysis. patients and methods: 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). results: 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. conclusion: 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.