Mixed polysaccharides derived from shiitake mushroom, Poriacocos, Ginger, and Tangerine peel prevent the H1N1 virus infections in mice.

The pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus spread globally and posed one of the most serious global public health challenges. The traditional Chinese medicine is served as a complementary treatment strategy with vaccine immunization. Here, we demonstrated that the mixed polysaccharides (MPs) derived from shiitake mushroom, poriacocos, ginger, and tyangerine peel prevent the H1N1 virus infections in mice. MP pretreatment attenuated H1N1 virus-induced weight loss, clinical symptoms, and death. The lymphocytes detection results showed that the CD3+, CD19+, and CD25+ cell proportions were upregulated in thymus under MP pretreatment. Besides, MP pretreatment reduced the inflammatory cell infiltration and increased the cell proportions of CD19+, CD25+, and CD278+ in lung. However, MP treatment have no effective therapeutic effect after H1N1 virus challenge. The current study suggested that pretreatment with MPs could attenuate H1N1 virus-induced lung injury and upregulate humoral and cellular immune responses in nonimmunized mice.