Beneficial effects of protein-bound polysaccharide K plus tegafur/uracil in patients with stage II or III colorectal cancer: Analysis of immunological parameters

Abstract

Protein-bound polysaccharide K (PSK) increased the 5-year disease-free survival rate and reduced the risk of recurrence in a randomised, controlled study for stage II and III colorectal cancer. In order to elucidate the disease-free survival benefits with PSK and what immunological markers could indicate a PSK responder, serial changes in immunological parameters were monitored in the study. PSK decreased the mean serum immunosuppressive acidic protein (IAP) level, and increased the mean population of natural killer (NK) cells compared with the controls. The 5-year disease-free and overall survival rate for patients with serum IAP values ≤500 μg ml -1 , which represents the normal value, were 75.5% (95% CI: 66.8-84.2%; p=0.016) and 85.1% (95% CI: 77.9-92.3%; p=0.032), respectively, in the PSK group compared with 57.5% (95% CI: 43.3-71.6%) and 70.2% (95% CI: 57.1-83.3%) in the control group. In patients with NK cell population ≥8% at 3 months after surgery, PSK conferred a significantly better (p=0.038) 5-year disease-free survival (86.7%; 95% CI: 74.5-98.8%) compared to the control group (60.0%; 95% CI: 29.6-90.4%).In the proportional hazards model, the presence of regional metastases (relative risk, 3.595; 95% CI: 1.518 to 8.518; p=0.004) and omission of PSK treatment (relative risk, 3.099; 95% CI: 1.202 to 7.990; p=0.019) were significant indicators of recurrence. PSK acts as an immunomodulatory activity and biochemical modulator in stage II or III colorectal cancer. Pre-operative serum IAP values ≤500 μg ml -1 and an NK cell population ≥8% at 3 months after surgery are possible PSK response predictors.

Acute and subchronic oral toxicity of Coriolus versicolor standardized water extract in Sprague-Dawley rats

“…However, it could restore a depressed immunological responsiveness as seen in cancer or with chemotherapy (Chu et al, 2002). Various experimental evidences showed that the antitumor action of CV polysaccharides is due to the enhancement and potentiation of cell-mediated immune system through the regulation of immunomodulatory cytokines and activation of the complement system and Natural Killer Cells (Ohwada et al, 2006).…”

Supplements for immune enhancement in hematologic malignancies

“…For instance, PSK has been shown to regulate cytokines and activate the complement system and natural killer cells. 31 It has also been reported that PSP effectively stimulates the generation of IFN-α and markedly improves the production of IFN-γ. 32 The latter is of special interest to us as our laboratory has previously reported that peripheral blood dendritic cells from myeloma patients were defective in their ability to up-regulate the expression of CD80 when ligating with CD40-ligand partly due to the presence of cytokines of IL-10 and TGF-β.…”

Polysaccharide-K (PSK) in Cancer - Old Story, New Possibilities?

“…It has been reported to be of potential benefit as adjuvant mono-or combination treatment in e.g. colorectal [10][11][12], breast [13][14], liver [15], pancreatic [16][17][18], gastric [19][20][21][22], esophageal [23], and lung cancer [24][25][26][27]. Furthermore, PSK has demonstrated minimal cytotoxicity or other side effects commonly associated with conventional anticancer treatments [28].…”