The complete blood picture or count (CBC) and different hematological measurments are widely used in the assessment of many health problems such as cancer prognosis and progression. The roots of Chinese herb Tripterygium wilfordii (TW) is well-defined in Chinese alternative medicine since it is rich in a lot of beneficial components such as terpenoids, alkaloids and steroids. The intratumoral treatment with TW ethanolic and aqueous extracts individually and mix of them at a dose (16 mg/ kg) in Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) bearing mice had ameliorated the different hematological parameters such as red blood cell count (RBCs), hemoglobin concentration, white blood cells (WBCs) count and differential, as well as platelet count near normal values.
Treatment with cisplatin (2mg/kg) revealed many undesired hematological side effects like anemia, leukopenia and neutrophilia. Moreover, recently used inflamatory markers as prospective diagnostic parameters for cancer prognosis like monocyte lyphocyte ratio (MLR), neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and platelet lymphocyte ratio (PLR) were decreased significantly after treatment with TW extracts.
In conclusion, treatment of EAC bearing mice with different extracts of TW could have anticancer activity regarding their remarked effect in improvement of distorted hematological parameters of the EAC bearing mice.