Supplements for immune enhancement in hematologic malignancies

Abstract

This brief review aims to discuss the various cellular immunological aspects and related mechanisms of the use of specific components from traditional herbal medicines. We begin with lessons learned from thalidomide as an effective single drug with multiple mechanisms of action to treat multiple myeloma. Examples of "supplements" or integrative therapy will be drawn from arsenic trioxide, medicinal mushrooms including Coriolus vesicular and Ganoderma lucidum, followed by the discussion of beta-glucans affecting various immunological important cellular subsets. Different classes of compounds may enhance distinct immune cell populations that might contribute to a multi-targeted holistic effects on anti-cancer treatment. Finally, we conclude by highlighting an herbal formulation PHY906 as a potential adjunct to chemotherapy that might become one of the first US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved oral herbal medicines for anti-cancer adjunct treatment.

Immune modulating effects of β-glucan

“…Preclinical data show good evidence for a beneficial effect of b-glucan in cancer [38][39][40]; however, there is some debate about whether these effects are due to direct cytotoxic effects or immunomodulatory mechanisms [41,42]. For example, Yoon et al reported that b-glucan purified from mutated S. cerevisiae inhibited lung metastasis of colon 26-M3.1 carcinoma that was associated with splenocyte proliferation, tumoricidal activity of peritoneal macrophages, and NK cell cytotoxicity but there was no effect of this treatment on direct cytotoxicty of colon 26-M3.1 cells in vitro [43].…”

Modulation of phenotypic and functional maturation of murine dendritic cells (DCs) by purified Achyranthes bidentata polysaccharide (ABP)

“…One of the major functions of TCM is as an immune modulator [27,28]. Polysaccharides from TCM have been reported to work efficiently as immune modulators in improving both cellular and humoral immunity [7,13,15,19,25], immune functions of the immunosuppressive mice, modulating secretion of cytokines and other situations of immune dysfunction in the human body [2,5,8,9,30], especially in restoring immune system of cancer patients, whose immune system was damaged severely by chemotherapy or radio-therapy [16,26,28]. Achyranthes bidentata has long been prescribed to prevent and treat various human diseases, particularly in China, Japan, and Korea.…”

Ganoderma lucidum Spore Induced CA72-4 Elevation in Gastrointestinal Cancer

“…In our Case 3, the only patient who continued GLS for a long period, CA72-4 surged rapidly when GLS was initiated and then sharply decreased, as did CEA, without any change in treatment, thus mirroring the aforementioned studies. Taking into consideration that studies demonstrate that the GLS extract possesses direct cytotoxic effects on cancer cells through multiple mechanisms such as apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, and enhanced cell-mediated immune response, [37][38][39][40] there is a possibility that the surge of CA72-4 might be due to GLS-produced tumor cell lysis. However, evidence to support this hypothesis is lacking as no other clinical symptom improvements accompanied the CA72-4 surge.…”