Immunoprotective activity of the galactoside-specific lectin from mistletoe after tumordestructive therapy in glioma patients

35 patients suffering from malignant stage III/IV glioma were enrolled into a prospectively randomized clinical trial. All patients were provided with standard oncologic treatment (neurosurgery, radiatio, basic clinical care according to protocol and indication) and ramdomly divided into a) treatment group: receiving subcutaneous injections of a ML-1 (galactoside-specific lectin from mistletoe) and b) control group: without additional complementary treatment. Immunophenotyping of peripheral blood leukocytes was done by flow cytometry as to evaluate the immunomodulating capacity of ML-1 standardized mistletoe extract. Obviously, a strong immunoprotective/immunostimulatory effect was induced by the treatment of glioma patients with ML-1 standardized mistletoe extract which correlated with an improved quality of life, as determined by a standard questionaire (Spitzer).