Effectiveness Medicinal Mushrooms on Human Cancer : PSK vs. PSP

[Guest guest]

I'd like to make a comparison of the effectiveness of two Coriolus

Versicolor derived polysaccharides against cancer.

Here as some facts I have gathered so far in my research :

1) PSP and PSK are the 2 products of Yun Zhi ( Chinese name for the

mushroom, Coriolus Versicolor) ratified by Chinese Ministry of

Public Health and Japanese Ministry of Public Health respectively.

2) PSK was first manufactured by Kureha Chemical Industry Co. Ltd ( A

Japanese Company). The PS in PSK represents polysaccharide and K

represents the first alphabet of the name of this Company. It was

originally written as PS-K and was later changed to PSK. The

commercial name of the product is Krestin. Hence, the K in PSK can

stand for either Kuhera ( the Company) , or Krestin ( the product

name ).

3) PSP was prepared by Professor Qing-yao Yang. It is like PSK and is

also a kind of compound polysaccharide. On the molecules of the

polysaccharide, the small molecular protein (polypeptide) is

connected. So it is called Yun Zhi Duo Tang Tai or Yun Zhi Tang Tai.

The Tang Tai English names were originally glycopeptide,

proteoglucan, glycosaminoglucan, etc. But the polysaccharide is all

composed of N-acetyl-amino-hexose. But the polysaccharides of PSP and

PSK are not composed of N-acetylamino-hexose. So it is not suitable

to use the name. So the word " polysaccharopeptide " or " polysaccharide-

peptide " is used and is abbreviated as PSP or PS-P.

According to the different degrees of extraction, there are a series

of PSP products. PSP directly extracted from the mycelia of Yun Zhi

is called Yun Zhi Polysaccharide-peptide (Trade mark Qing Kang) and

PSP polysacchardie-peptide (Landford). The former is sold on the

market of Mainland China and the latter is according to the export

specifications and is sold overseas. These 2 products are mainly used

for cancer patients.

4) Though PSP and PSK are all a kind of protein bound polysaccharide

and are all extracted from the deep layer cultivated mycelia, yet

they use the different strains, fermented medium and different

extracted methods. Thus there is a certain difference between PSP and

PSK.

5) It is known that in the polysaccharide of PSP there is fucose,

while there is no fucose in PSP, which contains arabinose and

rhamnose; while there are no such ingredients in PSK. On the other

hand, according to the pharmacological and clinical research, PSP has

the definite effect of alleviating pain and increasing appetite,

while there is no such report on PSK.

BUT ENOUGH OF THE TALK ALREADY. THE NEXT QUESTION IS, WHICH OF THESE

TWO POLYSACCHARIDES HAVE BEEN PROVEN TO BE MORE EFFECTIVE AGAINST

CANCER FOR

HUMANS ?

6) According to T. F. Liu and W.C. Xue of the Department of

Radiation Oncology

of the Cancer Hospital in Shanghai Medical University,

" Laboratory data, as well as both in vitro and in vivo experiments

have shown that PSP is more active than PSK. "

I must emphasize that any anti-cancer agent, no matter if the action

is direct or indirect, must all undergo clinical trials to prove

their value. It is well known that many drugs have been found to be

very effective at the experimental level in animals, but when applied

to human beings, due to unacceptable toxicity at effective doses,

there was only limited practical value.

HENCE, WE SHOULD ALL BE LESS IMPRESSED WITH SOMETHING THAT

WORKS IN-VITRO and even IN-VIVO ON ANIMALS BUT HAVE HAD FEW

TESTS ON HUMANS.

So, what I have I found out so far in the literature ?

7) IN REGARDS TO SAFETY,

Just as with PSK, basic investigations of PSP regarding toxicities

and pharmacological activities have shown that by oral

administration, no disturbances of peripheral blood picture, bone

marrow, gastrointestinal tract, liver and kidney functions have been

found so far. Marked effect has been demonstrated in animal

experimental tumors.

In the Cancer Hospital of the Shanghai Medical University, Dr. Xue et

al have treated 151 cases of various kinds of cancer, such as

esophagus, lung, mediastinum, etc.

First of all, two very important clinical aspects of PSP have been

shown in the course of treatment of these cases. No drug toxicity has

appeared clinically, and there has been noticeable, sometimes

remarkable anti-cancer effect.

8) IN REGARDS TO EFFICACY ON HUMAN CANCERS,

PSK Seems to have had MORE TESTS RESULTS ON HUMANS THAN

PSP ( I am willing to be corrected if mistaken, but the medical

literature seems to

have borne this out so far ).

PSK's efficacy on human cancers have been studied extensively in

Japan.

For example ---

A) On A randomized controlled clinical trial of 185 patients with non-

small cell lung cancers, Stages I-III ( 5 year study )

The study found that " 5 year survival rate of the patients who

received PSK with

stages I and II disease, as well as stage III was 39% and 22%

respectively, compared with

the non-administered groups of 16% and 5%. These differences are

statistically

significant. Stage III patients using PSK with radiation had a better

survival rate than

stage I patients treated with radiation alone " .

( See Hayakawa K, Mitsuhasi N. et. al. " Effect of Krestin (PSK ) as

Adjuvant

Therapy on the progonosis after radical radiotherapy in patients with

non-small

cell lung cancer " , Anticancer Research 13:1815-1820 ( 1993 ) )

A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial of 262 Patients after

Curative

Gastrectomy ( 5 year study ), published in LANCET JOURNAL, found

the

survival rate of the group using PSK with chemotherapy to be 73%

after 5 years

( See Nakazato H. Koike, A. et. al, " EFFICACY OF IMMUNOCHEMOTHERAPY

AS ADJUVANT TREATMENT AFTER CURATIVE RESECTION OF GASTRIC

CANCER " , LANCET, 343:1122-1126 ( 1994 )

C) Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial of 110 patients After

Curative Surgery

for Colorectal Cancer -- 10 year study found that the survival

rate of the PSK

group was more than doubled over the control group ( those who

did not take PSK ).

( See Torisu M, Hayashi Y. et. al., " Significant Prolongation of

Disease-Free period gained by oral polysacharide K ( PSK )

administration after curative surgical operation

of colorectal cancer. Cancer Immunology Immunotherapy 31:261-268 (

1990 )

I WOULD LIKE YOU TO NOTE THAT :

A) THE CLINICAL TRIALS ON PSK's efficacy were made on HUMANS

and REAL FOLLOW UP WAS DONE OVER A LONG TERM ( 5 year

and 10 year ) PERIOD.

PSK's efficacy was assessed as ADJUVANT to Chemo, Radiation

or Surgery. NO STUDY HAS BEEN MADE ON PSK USE BY ITSELF

APART FROM THESE 3 standard cancer treatment.

Therefore, WE DO NOT KNOW HOW THE PATIENTS WOULD HAVE

FARED HAD THEY USED PSK ALONE !!! Any studies or anecdotal evidence

would be welcome in this forum.

9) Now, here is the claim I cannot verify ---

The website, refers to :

http://www.psp.bc.ca/Cancer-and-ulcers/SPCV.htm

makes a remarkable claim :

IT WAS FOUND THAT THE ANTI-TUMOR EFFECT OF PSP WAS MORE POTENT

THAN THAT OF PSK !!!

For this, they refer to a paper which I cannot get my hands on (

and I'd be glad if someone can get them to me for my edification ).

Here is the refered to study :

Li X.M. and L.Z. Xu, " A STUDY OF ANTI-CANCEREFFECTS OF PSP

AND PSK ON HUMAN TUMOR CELLS IN VITRO " Acta Academia Medica,

Shanghai, 14:23-24 ( 1987 )

Note however, the words --- IN VITRO. This means that this claim

has not been

tested ON HUMANS. So I would suggest that we take this claim with

caution.

The only real tests on humans I have found to be published is a

paper

published by T.F. Liu and W.c. Xue of the Dept. of Radiation

Oncology

Cancer Hospital, Shanghai Medical University

The title of their paper : CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF PSP IN ONCOLOGY

Here are their conclusions :

1. The use of PSP as the main therapeutical agent, especially in late

cases of cancer. The experience in Shanghai has shown that PSP may be

unexpectedly effective in apparently hopeless cases, as evidenced by

the results obtained for Ming Wei Fang, Fu Luncai, etc.

In our Department of Radiation Oncology, we have treated 4 cases of

lung carcinoma with PSP, and found that growth of tumor, as shown by

consecutive X-ray films, was stabilized as compared to 5 other cases

without PSP treatment.

2. The use of PSP in combination with radiotherapy. In the literature

of Krestin, it was found that it increased the effectiveness of

radiation on the Sarcoma 180 in mice. We thought that it might be the

same in human patients. It is well known that whenever a drug is used

in combination with other agents such as radiation or cytotoxic

agents, there is always the question as to how it will interact with

them, whether the effects will be additive or synergistic, and most

important of all, whether there will be a gain in therapeutic ratio.

A gain in therapeutic ratio means that the effect on cancer tissue is

markedly more than that on normal tissue. The contrary would make the

drug useless for clinical purposes. Due to the almost non-existent

toxicity of PSP, we decided the use of PSP at least would not

interfere with the radiation treatment. 41 cases of esophageal

carcinoma were treated with a combination of PSP and radiation. The

results have been very encouraging, as shown by the paper on these

cases reported by Xue et al.

3. The use of PSP in combination with chemotherapy. The experience

with PSK in experimental chemotherapy has shown that PSK was able to

enhance the effects of the chemotherapeutic agents. Naturally, PSP

would have probably an even better effect theroetically, but clinical

trials are needed to see if the toxic effects of the classical anti-

cancer drugs can be decreased while enhancing their therapeutic

effectiveness on the cancer cells in human beings.

4. The use of PSP as a therapy adjvant to other methods of cancer

treatment. As is well known, radiation and chemotherapy both affect

the leucocytes markedly, as well as the general condition of the

patients. Quite often, radiotherapy or chemotherapy has had to be

interrupted or discontinued due to such reactions.

Very encouragingly, PSP has been shown to be of notable value in this

respect. The experience of the Changzhou Municipal Hospital of

Chinese Medicine has shown that PSP is effective in maintaining or

even raising the WBC in 6 cases of advanced cancer treated by

chemotherapy. The WBC had dropped to below 4000. PSP was able to

raise them all to above 4000, in one case even to above 7000. In all

the cases, the general condition was improved when PSP was given.

So, what do we have for PSP ?

A) No Long term human survival data compared to PSK. We have words

like " encouraging results " , " White Blood cecll counts virtually

doubled " , etc. ( but what does these mean ? Did the patient live long

term ? Isn't this the bottom line for readers of this thread ?).

Again, PSP was studied IN CONJUNCTION with Chemo or Radiation. I

have yet to see a study on its USE ALONE.

I THEREFORE CONCLUDE THAT PSK has had more CLINICAL STUDIES

ON HUMANS THAN PSP and all claims to PSP being more effective than PSK

should be seen in the perspective of IN-VITRO or IN-VIVO Studies (

but no comparative study on humans ).

10) Finally, the ALL-IMPORTANT QUESTION, Given the fact that

PSK and PSP can help cancer patients in their fight for

survival and quality of life,

WHAT IS THE BEST SOURCE FOR EITHER ONE ?

Here in the USA, PSK is being distributed ( they say it is

imported from Japan ) by JHS Natural Products in Eugene Oregon.

In Canada, A certain Dr. Chien seems to be providing a PSP-2

( he says it is the MOST POTENT OF ITS KIND, see

http://www,psp.bc.ca ).

Question : ANYONE OUT THERE KNOW IF THEY ARE REPUTABLE

SOURCES ?

I started the discussion rolling. I have more data if you'd like

to continue the discussion.