Acacia ferruginea inhibits cyclophosphamide-induced immunosuppression and urotoxicity by modulating cytokines in mice

Cyclophosphamide (CTX), commonly used as an anti-neoplastic drug, can cause adverse side-effects including immunotoxicity and urotoxicity. Increasingly, plants have become sources of therapeutics that can help to restore host immunity to normal. In this study, Acacia ferruginea was assessed for an ability to protect mice against/mitigate CTX-induced toxicity. Co-administration of an extract of A. ferruginea (10 mg/kg BW, IP daily) for 10 consecutive days reduced CTX (25 mg/kg BW, IP daily)-induced toxicity. Apart from improvements in bladder and small intestine morphology, there was marked improvement in anti-oxidant (glutathione) levels in the bladder, suggesting a role for the anti-oxidant in reducing CTX-induced urotoxicity. Moreover, use of the extract significantly increased total leukocyte counts and bone marrow cellularity/alpha-esterase activity in CTX-treated mice which suggested a protective effect on the hematopoietic system. Co-treatment with the extract also prevented decreases in organ (liver, kidney, spleen, thymus) weight as well as body weight, thereby seemingly lessening the potential impact of CTX on the host immune system. Further, CTX-induced increases in serum aspartate transanimase, alanine transaminase, and alkaline phosphatase were reversed by extract co-treatment, as were alterations in in situ formation/release of interferon (IFN)-gamma, interleukin (IL)-2, granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha. Overall, this study indicated there were some protective effects from use of an extract of A. ferruginea against CTX-induced toxicities, in part through modulation of levels of anti-oxidants and pro-inflammatory cytokines.