Tehran University of Medical Sciences International Journal of Hematology-Oncology and Stem Cell Research 2008-2207 3 3 2009 09 15 21 28 Somayeh Shahrokhi Department of Immunology, School of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran MH Zuhair Department of Immunology, School of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran MA Mohagheghi Cancer Research Center, Cancer Institute, Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran T Ghazanfari Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Shahed University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran M Ebtekar Department of Immunology, School of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran 2015 10 01 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. https://ijhoscr.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijhoscr/article/view/220 https://ijhoscr.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijhoscr/article/download/220/213