Abstract
Purpose. The edible mushroom (fungus) Agaricus blazei Murill (ABM) is a health food in many countries. Importantly, it has been shown to have antitumor and immune effects. There is no available information on ABM-affected immune responses in leukemia mice in vivo. Experimental Design. In this study, the authors investigated the immunopotentiating activities of boiled water-soluble extracts from desiccated ABM in WEHI-3 leukemia mice. The major characteristic of WEHI-3 leukemia mice are enlarged spleens and livers after intraperitoneal injection with murine leukemia WEHI-3 cells. Isolated T cells from spleens of ABM-treated mice resulted in increased T-cell proliferation compared with the untreated control with concanavalin A stimulation. Results. ABM decreased the spleen and liver weights when compared with WEHI-3 leukemia mice and this effect was a dose-dependent response. ABM promoted natural killer cell activity and phagocytosis by macrophage/monocytes in leukemia mice in a dose-dependent manner. ABM also enhanced cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and interferon-γ levels but reduced the level of IL-4 in WEHI-3 leukemia mice. Moreover, ABM increased the levels of CD3 and CD19 but decreased the levels of Mac-3 and CD11b in leukemia mice. Conclusions. The ABM extract is likely to stimulate immunocytes and regulate immune response in leukemia mice in vivo.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 29-36 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Integrative Cancer Therapies |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 2012 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This study was supported by Grant CMU-96-073 from China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, and Grant DOH99-TDC-111-005 from Department of Health, Executive Yuan, ROC (Taiwan).
Keywords
- Agaricus blazei Murill extract
- NK cells
- WEHI-3 cells
- immune responses
- leukemia BALB/c mice
- phagocytosis