A phase I trial of mushroom powder in patients with biochemically recurrent prostate cancer: Roles of cytokines and myeloid‐derived suppressor cells for Agaricus bisporus–induced prostate‐specific antigen responses

Abstract

BACKGROUND Each year in the U.S., nearly 50,000 prostate cancer patients exhibit a rise in PSA levels, which can indicate disease recurrence. For patients (pts) with biochemically recurrent prostate cancer (PC), we evaluated the effects of white button mushroom (WBM) powder on serum PSA levels; also, the tolerability and biological activity of WBM was determined. METHODS Pts with continuously rising PSA levels were enrolled. Dose escalation was conducted in cohorts of 6; this continued provided that no more than one patient per cohort experienced dose limiting toxicity (DLT). The primary objective was to evaluate treatment feasibility and associated toxicity. The secondary objectives were to determine the effect of WBM on both serum PSA and androgen levels; and evaluate WBM’s impact on myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and cytokine levels. RESULTS Thirty-six pts were treated; no DLT’s were encountered. Overall PSA response rate was 11%. Two pts receiving 8 and 14 gm/day demonstrated a PSA complete response (CR): their PSA declined to undetectable levels that continue for 49 and 30 months. Two pts, receiving 8 and 12 gm/day, experienced a PSA partial response (PR). After 3 months of therapy, 36% of pts (13/36) experienced some PSA decrease below baseline. Pts with PSA CR and PR demonstrated higher levels of baseline interleukin-15 (IL-15) than nonresponders; for this group, we observed therapy-associated declines in myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). CONCLUSIONS Therapy with WBM appears to both impact PSA levels and modulate the biology of biochemically recurrent PC by decreasing immunosuppressive factors.

Cultivation of Agaricus bisporus enriched with selenium, zinc and copper

“…Finally, it has been demonstrated that mushrooms enriched with trace elements may complex them in polysaccharides and proteins, and that these macromolecules may reveal beneficial biological effects . In A. bisporus , investigations focused exclusively on identification, isolation and investigations of macromolecules derived from Se enriched mushrooms . As far as we are concerned, no study investigated the polysaccharide and protein levels in Cu and/or Zn enriched A. bisporus .…”

“…There are number of reasons behind the success of this species which include relatively inexpensive cultivation methods using organic substrates and nutritional profile: high content of riboflavin, niacin and minerals, particularly phosphorus . Moreover, A. bisporus has been demonstrated to contain biologically active compounds exhibiting potential immunomodulatory and anti‐cancer properties in in vitro and rodent models and a few clinical trials performed …”

Mushroom consumption and incident risk of prostate cancer in Japan: A pooled analysis of the Miyagi Cohort Study and the Ohsaki Cohort Study

“…These mushrooms also contain considerable amounts of the antioxidant glutathione . Additionally, in Phase 1 clinical trial, white button mushrooms also appeared to have antiprostate cancer activity through immune modulation, although the active compounds are still unclear. Therefore, we assume these bioactive components might play a role in the observed inverse relationship between mushroom consumption and incident prostate cancer, because shiitake, oyster mushrooms, maitake and white button mushrooms are commonly consumed in the study areas.…”

“…However, to the best of our knowledge, only one previous human study (a phase I trial) has investigated the biological activity of mushroom intake on prostate cancer recurrence . In that study, different doses of white button mushroom (i.e., Agaricus bisporus ) powder were taken by biochemically recurrent prostate cancer patients.…”

Phytotherapeutic interventions in the management of biochemically recurrent prostate cancer: a systematic review of randomised trials

“…Details of the 18 excluded studies are given in Table 2 [4,[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41].…”