Beta Glucans

There were many studies, articles and books Dr. Dressler and Dr. Ettinger used when writing The Dog Cancer Survival Guide. Here is a list of the most important references about the use of beta glucans.

Please note that in vivo and clinical use citations were included whenever possible. We have also included links to the papers, where available. Most of the papers are found on the National Institute of Health’s online library, PubMed.

Oral administration of beta-1,3/1,6-glucan to dogs temporally changes total and antigen-specific IgA and IgM. Stuyven E, et al. Clin Vaccine Immunol. 2010 Feb;17(2):281-5.

Dietary modulation of immune function by beta-glucans. Volman JJ, Ramakers JD, Plat J. Physiol Behav. 2008 May 23;94(2):276-84.

[The biological activity of beta-glucans], Rondanelli M, Opizzi A, Monteferrario F. Minerva Med. 2009 Jun;100(3):237-45. Review. Italian.

Immunomodulatory activities of oat beta-glucan in vitro and in vivo. Estrada A, et al. Microbiol Immunol. 1997;41(12):991-8.

Effects of oat beta-glucan on innate immunity and infection after exercise stress. Davis JM,et al. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2004 Aug;36(8):1321-7.

Oral delivery and gastrointestinal absorption of soluble glucans stimulate increased resistance to infectious challenge. Rice PJ, et al. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 2005 Sep;314(3):1079-86

Immunomodulation by orally administered beta-glucan in mice. Suzuki I, et al. Int J Immunopharmacol. 1989;11(7):761-9.

Aggregating disparate epidemiological evidence: comparing two seminal EMF reviews. O’Carroll MJ, Henshaw DL. Risk Anal. 2008 Feb;28(1):225-34.

The effect of heated fat on the carcinogenic activity of 2-acetylaminofluorene. M. Sugai, et al. Cancer Res 22 (41): 510.

Formation of new heterocyclic amine mutagens by heating creatinine, alanine, threonine and glucose. Skog K, et al. Mutat Res. 1992 Aug;268(2):191-7.

Heterocyclic amines: Mutagens/carcinogens produced during cooking of meat and fish. Sugimura T, et al. Cancer Sci. 2004 Apr;95(4):290-9.

A new approach to risk estimation of food-borne carcinogens–heterocyclic amines–based on molecular information. Nagao M. Mutat Res. 1999 Dec 16;431(1):3-12. Review.

Verification of the findings of acrylamide in heated foods. Ahn JS, et al. Food Addit Contam. 2002 Dec;19(12):1116-24.

Analysis of acrylamide, a carcinogen formed in heated foodstuffs. Tareke E, et al. J Agric Food Chem. 2002 Aug 14;50(17):4998-5006.

A prospective study of dietary acrylamide intake and the risk of endometrial, ovarian, and breast cancer. Hogervorst JG, et al. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2007 Nov;16(11):2304-13.

The effects of beta-glucan on human immune and cancer cells. Chan GC, Chan WK, Sze DM. J Hematol Oncol. 2009 Jun 10;2:25.

[Biologically active compounds of edible mushrooms and their beneficial impact on health]. Rajewska J, Bałasińska B. Postepy Hig Med Dosw (Online). 2004;58:352-7.

Mushrooms, tumors, and immunity: an update. Borchers AT, Keen CL, Gershwin ME. Exp Biol Med (Maywood). 2004 May;229(5):393-406.

Medicinal mushrooms as a source of antitumor and immunomodulating polysaccharides. Wasser SP. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2002 Nov;60(3):258-74.

Phellinus Linteus Extract Sensitizes Advanced Prostate Cancer Cells to Apoptosis in Athymic Nude Mice. Takanori Tsuji, et al. PLoS One. 2010; 5(3): e9885.

Phellinus linteus sensitises apoptosis induced by doxorubicin in prostate cancer. Collins L, Zhu T, Guo J, Xiao ZJ, Chen CY. Br J Cancer. 2006 Aug 7;95(3):282-8.

Effect of Maitake (Grifola frondosa) D-Fraction on the activation of NK cells in cancer patients. Kodama N, Komuta K, Nanba H. J Med Food. 2003 Winter;6(4):371-7.

Maitake D-Fraction enhances antitumor effects and reduces immunosuppression by mitomycin-C in tumor-bearing mice. Kodama N, et al. Nutrition. 2005 May;21(5):624-9.

[Inhibitory effects of cordyceps extract on growth of colon cancer cells]. Huang H, Wang H, Luo RC. Zhong Yao Cai. 2007 Mar;30(3):310-3. Chinese.

Induction of apoptosis by aqueous extract of Cordyceps militaris through activation of caspases and inactivation of Akt in human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 Cells. Jin CY, Kim GY, Choi YH. J Microbiol Biotechnol. 2008 Dec;18(12):1997-2003.

Growth inhibition of U937 leukemia cells by aqueous extract of Cordyceps militaris through induction of apoptosis. Park C, et al. Oncol Rep. 2005 Jun;13(6):1211-6.

Inhibitory mechanisms of Agaricus blazei Murill on the growth of prostate cancer in vitro and in vivo. Yu CH, Kan SF, Shu CH, Lu TJ, Sun-Hwang L, Wang PS. J Nutr Biochem. 2009 Oct;20(10):753-64.

Suppressing effects of daily oral supplementation of beta-glucan extracted from Agaricus blazei Murill on spontaneous and peritoneal disseminated metastasis in mouse model. Kobayashi H, et al. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 2005 Aug;131(8):527-38.

Effects of the medicinal mushroom Agaricus blazei Murill on immunity, infection and cancer. Hetland G, et al. Scand J Immunol. 2008 Oct;68(4):363-70.

Induction of apoptosis in human prostatic cancer cells with beta-glucan (Maitake mushroom polysaccharide). Fullerton SA, Samadi AA, Tortorelis DG, Choudhury MS, Mallouh C, Tazaki H, Konno S. Mol Urol. 2000 Spring;4(1):7-13.

Can maitake MD-fraction aid cancer patients? Kodama N, Komuta K, Nanba H. Altern Med Rev. 2002 Jun;7(3):236-9.

Effects of mushroom-derived beta-glucan-rich polysaccharide extracts on nitric oxide production by bone marrow-derived macrophages and nuclear factor-kappaB transactivation in Caco-2 reporter cells: can effects be explained by structure? Volman JJ, Heet et al. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2010 Feb;54(2):268-76.

Beta-glucan functions as an adjuvant for monoclonal antibody immunotherapy by recruiting tumoricidal granulocytes as killer cells. Hong F, et al. Cancer Res. 2003 Dec 15;63(24):9023-31.

The polysaccharide, PGG-glucan, enhances human myelopoiesis by direct action independent of and additive to early-acting cytokines. Turnbull JL, Patchen ML, Scadden DT. Acta Haematol. 1999;102(2):66-71.

In vitro cytostatic and immunomodulatory properties of the medicinal mushroom Lentinula edodes. Israilides C, Kletsas D, Arapoglou D, Philippoussis A, Pratsinis H, Ebringerová A, Hríbalová V, Harding SE. Phytomedicine. 2008 Jun;15(6-7):512-9.

Inhibition of human colon carcinoma development by lentinan from shiitake mushrooms (Lentinus edodes). Ng ML, Yap AT. J Altern Complement Med. 2002 Oct;8(5):581-9.

Efficacy of orally administered superfine dispersed lentinan (beta-1,3-glucan) for the treatment of advanced colorectal cancer. Hazama S, et al. Anticancer Res. 2009 Jul;29(7):2611-7.

Improvement of QOL and prognosis by treatment of superfine dispersed lentinan in patients with advanced gastric cancer. Yoshino S, Watanabe S, Imano M, Suga T, Nakazawa S, Hazama S, Oka M. Hepatogastroenterology. 2010 Jan-Feb;57(97):172-7.

Differential anti-tumor activity of coriolus versicolor (Yunzhi) extract through p53- and/or Bcl-2-dependent apoptotic pathway in human breast cancer cells. Ho CY, et al. Cancer Biol Ther. 2005 Jun;4(6):638-44.

Coriolus versicolor (Yunzhi) extract attenuates growth of human leukemia xenografts and induces apoptosis through the mitochondrial pathway. Ho CY, et al. Oncol Rep. 2006 Sep;16(3):609-16.

Coriolus versicolor polysaccharide peptide slows progression of advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Tsang KW, Lam CL, Yan C, Mak JC, Ooi GC, Ho JC, Lam B, Man R, Sham JS, Lam WK. Respir Med. 2003 Jun;97(6):618-24.

Coriolus versicolor: a medicinal mushroom with promising immunotherapeutic values. Chu KK, Ho SS, Chow AH. J Clin Pharmacol. 2002 Sep;42(9):976-84.

Polysaccharide immunomodulators as therapeutic agents: structural aspects and biologic function. Tzianabos AO. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2000 Oct;13(4):523-33.

Mechanism by which orally administered beta-1,3-glucans enhance the tumoricidal activity of antitumor monoclonal antibodies in murine tumor models. Hong F, et al. J Immunol. 2004 Jul 15;173(2):797-806.

Oral delivery and gastrointestinal absorption of soluble glucans stimulate increased resistance to infectious challenge. Rice PJ, et al. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 2005 Sep;314(3):1079-86.

Immunomodulation by orally administered beta-glucan in mice. Suzuki I, et al. Int J Immunopharmacol. 1989;11(7):761-9.

Effect of orally administered beta-glucan on macrophage function in mice. Suzuki I, et al. Int J Immunopharmacol. 1990;12(6):675-84.