Enhanced Cytokine Synthesis of Leukocytes by a β‐Glucan Preparation, SCG, Extracted from a Medicinal Mushroom,Sparassis crispa

Abstract

Sparassis crispa is edible mushroom recently cultivable in Japan. It contains significantly high content (approximately 40%) of 6-branched 1,3-beta-D-glucan showing antitumor activity in mice. We recently purified a beta-glucan preparation designated as "SCG." It was considered worth while to test SCG in vitro with whole blood collected from human volunteers. The present study is focusing on the cytokine productivity of SCG in an in vitro human system. The following results were observed: (i) SCG dose dependently enhanced IL-8 synthesis of whole blood cell culture of human peripheral blood. (ii) IL-8 synthesis was enhanced in both PBMC and PMN cultures. (iii) IL-8 synthesis was induced in the culture with autologous plasma, but significantly reduced after 56 degrees C treatment. (iv) The activity was also weak in heat inactivated fetal calf serum (FCS). (v) A complement fragment, C5a, was released by SCG dependently upon dose and kinetics. (vi) Anti-SCG natural antibody was detected in human plasma. From these facts, SCG was observed to have the capacity to activate human leukocytes and related immune system.

Contribution of dectin-1 and granulocyte macrophage–colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) to immunomodulating actions of β-glucan

“…routes over a wide range of concentrations [15,16], and the effect was augmented by combination with isoflavone aglycone [17]. SCG stimulated leukocytes to produce cytokines in preparations of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells [18] and splenocytes from mice [19]. These results show that SCG could enhance immune responses in vivo and in vitro.…”

Mitogen activated protein kinases are prime signalling enzymes in nitric oxide production induced by soluble β-glucan from Sparassis crispa

“…Very few reports have suggested that this mushroom exhibits antitumor and antiallergic activities (Ohno et al, 2000;Yamamoto et al, 2009) and its major principles are identified as polysaccharide fractions composed of a backbone of β-(1→3)-linked D-glucopyranosyl residues with β-D-glucopyranosyl groups joined through O-6 and O-2 of D-glucose (Tada et al, 2007;Park et al, 2009). Interleukin (IL)-8, GM-CSF and interferon (IFN)-γ are reported to be produced by Sparassis crispa β-glucan (Harada et al, 2002;Nameda et al, 2003;Harada and Ohno, 2008). In addition, this mushroom has been also reported to contain some chemical constituents such as sequiterpenoids and benzoate derivatives that possess antifungal and antibacterial activities (Harada et al, 2005;Kodani et al, 2009).…”

Induction of dendritic cell maturation by β-glucan isolated from Sparassis crispa

“…As its mechanism of action, sparan increased cytokine production by human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) [8] and mouse spleen cells [5,9,10]. Sparan directly induced adherent cells to produce TNF-α and IL-12, whereas cell-cell contact between adherent cells and CD4+ T cells was required for the induction of IFN-γ and GM-CSF by sparan [11].…”