Use of maitake mushroom extract to enhance stem cell engraftment
- Others
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Deng G, et al (2009) A phase I/II trial of a polysaccharide extract from Grifola frondosa (Maitake mushroom) in breast cancer patients: immunological effects. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 2009 Mar 1. [Epub ahead of print]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=DetailsSearch&Term=19253021[uid]
Lin H, et al (2007) Enhancement of umbilical cord blood cell hematopoiesis by maitake beta-glucan is mediated by granulocyte colony-stimulating factor production. Clin Vaccine Immunol. 14(1):21-7.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=DetailsSearch&Term=17093103[uid]
Lin H, et al (2009) Maitake beta-glucan enhances umbilical cord blood stem cell transplantation in the NOD/SCID mouse. Exp Biol Med (Maywood). 234(3):342-53.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=DetailsSearch&Term=19144872[uid]
- *Abstract
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Beta-glucans are chains of sugar molecules that occur most commonly as cellulose in plants and trees, in the bran of cereal grains, in the cell wall of baker's yeast, in certain types of fungi and bacteria.
Investigators at Cornell have discovered that beta glucans from maitake mushrooms support engraftment of stem cells. They are developing a clinical trial to test whether administration of these mushroom extracts will improve recovery following bone marrow transplant or umbilical cord transplant in cancer patients whose bone marrow has been ablated. More broadly, use of these extracts may improve the efficacy of stem cell therapies in general (cardiac stem cell therapy, CNS stem cell therapies, etc).
It has been long and widely known that beta glucans support the immune system, and they have been used that way in asian traditional medicines. Since the 1980 they have been used in immunoadjuvant therapy to treat cancer patients, primarily in Japan. And since the 1980s beta glucans have been known to support ability of stem cells to expand and to survive - but these uses have been tested only in animals.
In collaboration with a group at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the Cornell team has a long-standing basic, translational, and clinical research program in alternative approaches to cancer treatment, especially focused on identifying ways to help cancer patients overcome the immune suppression and subsequent infections that are often as deadly to patients as their initial cancer. We invite partners to accelerate the clinical trial and cooperate in the development of maitake beta glucans as treatments for this grave unmet need.
- *Licensing
- Dan-Oscar Antsonda429@cornell.edu212-746-1297
- Country/Region
- USA
