A Mushroom Extract May Impact The Body's Immune System

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A Mushroom Extract May Impact The Body's Immune System

19 Aug 2006

Can the extract of a mushroom that is commonly found in the woods of North

America, Asia and Europe have a beneficial impact on the human immune

system? A small study using “Turkey Tail” mushroom (Trametes versicolor)

extract, has found that it may.

The “Turkey Tail” mushroom is too tough to eat, but it may be ingested in

the form of liquid or powdered extracts. One such extract produced by Kureha

Inc., Tokyo, Japan, is Polysaccharide Krestin® (PSK), a protein-bound

polysaccharide fraction. The PSK extract has been found to have a beneficial

effect in the treatment of certain types of cancers, especially when used in

conjunction with chemotherapy. In order to determine its effects on the

human immune system, a team of researchers sought to use a proteomic

approach to identify the immunologically relevant proteins stimulated by

treatment with the mushroom extract in human immune cells.

A New Study

The authors of the study “Cross Validation of Influence of Polysaccharide

Krestinâ (PSK) Extract of Trametes versicolor on Protein Expression in Human

Primary Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes” are S. Finnell, M.S., Daesong Yim

Ph.D., Masa Sasagawa, N.D., and A. Wenner, Ph.D., all from the

School of Natural Health Sciences, Bastyr University, Kenmore, WA; Animesh

Nandi , Ph.D., Prem Gurnani, and P. Rosenblatt, M.D., Ph.D., from the

Department of Pathology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center,

Dallas, TX.

This study was funded in part by a grant from the National Institutes of

Health - National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM),

as well as an Institutional Seed Grant from Bastyr University.

The team will present preliminary findings during the 21st Annual Meeting of

the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (http://www.Naturopathic

org), being held August 9-12, 2006, at the Oregon Convention Center,

Portland, OR.

Methodology

Immune cells were isolated from blood taken from nine healthy human

volunteers and were cultured in vitro. The immune cell samples were treated

under three different conditions: one set with no treatment, which served as

the negative control; another set treated with the PSK mushroom extract; a

third set treated with phytohemagluttin (PHA), a mitogen known to stimulate

activation of immune cells; and a final set treated with both the mitogen

and mushroom extract, in combination. Separate portions of cell lysates and

supernatants (the liquid medium in which the cells were cultured) were

collected at 0, 1 and 24 hours, flash-frozen, and stored at -80°C. Samples

were analyzed at pH3 on immobilized metal affinity capture (IMAC30)

ProteinChip® arrays, using both low-performance and high-performance mass

spectrometry (MS). Statistical analyses of low- and high-resolution MS data

were cross-validated to determine whether changes in immunologically

relevant proteins occurred that were attributable to treatment with the

mushroom extract.

Results

Statistical analysis of the spectra showed significant differential

post-translational modification or expression of proteins, in the range of

1-30 kilodalton (kDa - a unit of measure of the atomic mass of the proteins)

in the treated sets of cell cultures, as compared to untreated, negative

control samples. Many immunologically relevant proteins, including many

known to regulate immune responses, fall within the 1-30 kDa range.

Conclusions

The findings from this research study suggest that protein-bound,

polysaccharide-rich fractions of Trametes versicolor PSK may modulate the

post-translational modification or expression of proteins in healthy human

immune cells. The next step is to extract and sequence the proteins of

interest to determine their specific function in immune cells. The results

invite further research to determine how selected extracts of medicinal

mushrooms may be effective in strengthening the body's immune system against

diseases, such as cancer.

The American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP) was founded in

1985 to provide alternative methods for healing human diseases and disorders

than have been traditionally offered in the United States. Members of the

AANP must have graduated from one of North America's six accredited graduate

schools of naturopathic medicine.

For more information about naturopathic physicians, log on to

http://www.naturopathic.org/.

Article URL:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=50002