β1,3-GLUCAN ANTICANCER EFFICACIES AND SYNERGIES: A REVIEW

Abstract

β1,3-glucans from fungi, cereals, seaweeds and bacte ria have been shown to possess favourable biologica l and anti-carcinogenic activities including upregula tion of phagocytosis, cytokine production enhanceme nt, superoxide and nitrite production; antibody secreti on and stimulation of signalling pathways associate d with proto-oncogene expression. However, human dietary supplements containing β1,3-glucans vary in efficacy due to glucan source, the lifecycle stage of the so urce at extraction, extraction methods, purity, concentration and combination with other immunomodulators. A review of efficacy of some commercially available β1,3-glucan products is presented. Three apparently efficacious products in which β1,3-glucan was the only immunomodulator were identified: Glucan #300®, Maitake Gold 404® (diluted Yukiguni Maitake MD Fraction®) and Betamune®. A trial of Maitake Gold 404® produced evidence of standardisation problems. It is recommended that Yu kiguni Maitake MD Fraction® (a more standardised alternative), Glucan #300® and Betamune® be comparatively trialled at optimal doses across immunological measures and tumor reduction. β1,3-glucans have been shown to be synergistic with conventional cancer therapies and monoclonal antibodies, as well as immunomodulators including vitamin C, transresveratrol, humic acids and Ashwagandha ( Withania somnifera ). Trialled commercially available products containing immunomodulator combinations have been shown to be inefficacious, apart from RVB300®, a β1,3-glucan/transresveratrol/vitamin C combination. The efficacies of various combinations of β1,3-glucans with other immunomodulators and the details of specific β1,3-glucan/monoclonal antibody synergies in treating particular cancer cell lines, require systematic elucidation.