Abstract: Objective: To investigate the repairing effects of ovotransferrin (OVT) on immune imbalance of mice induced by cyclophosphamide. Methods: Fifty mice were randomly divided into five groups (ten animals per group): normal control group, model control group, and high dosage (10 mg/mL), middle dosage (1 mg/mL) and low dosage (0.1 mg/mL) OVT groups. Normal and model control groups were administered with normal saline. Each mouse in the OVT groups was administered with OVT of different concentrations at a dosage of 20 mL/(kg ·d) for 15 successive days. On the 15th day, all the mice except the normal group were injected with cyclophosphamide after OVT or saline administration and then administered for four more days (determined by the model group). At the end of the administration process, all the mice were sacrificed to measure serum IFN-γ, serum IL-4 ratio, their ratio, spleen index and thymus index. Results: Serum IFN-γ and IFN-γ/IL-4 ratio of the model control group were significantly lower than those of the normal control group (P ＜ 0.01), while IFN-γ concentration and IFN-γ/IL-4 ratio in the serum of the high-dose OVT group were significantly higher than those of the model control group (P ＜0.01), but no significant difference was observed compared to the normal control group. Meanwhile, spleen and thymus indexes of the high-dose OVT group were higher than those of the model control group (P ＜ 0.01). Conclusion: OVT can repair mouse humoral and cellular immune damage induced by cyclophosphamide and improve the immune function of immunosuppressed mice.

Key words: ovotransferrin, cyclophosphamide, Th1/Th2 cells balance