40 Years of Cancer Research

Starting with the first scientific studies 40 years ago, Beta Glucans have been demonstrated to have anti-tumor activity in both human and animal trials against a wide variety of tumor types such as lung, gastrointestinal and breast cancer.

In Japan and China, Beta Glucan has been used since the 1980’s for cancer therapy and Beta Glucan is a fully licensed cancer drug in Japan. There are currently 26 clinical trials being conducted in the United States and Europe.

The immune system will recognize most tumors, but the antibody response is rarely strong enough to kill cancer growth and even a completely healthy immune system can quickly become overwhelmed by fast-growing cancer cells. Where Beta Glucan plays a role is in coordinating with the antibodies that help the immune system recognize the cancer cells as foreign. Once cancer cells are identified as “not self”, specific antibodies are released and will bind to the cancer cells. Once this binding takes place, the C3 fragment of compliment coats the surface of the cancer cells so that the glucan-primed cells, such as macrophages and natural killer cells, can recognize the cancer cells and kill them.

The traditional treatments of cancer have brutal effects on the body, this is where Beta Glucan shines with a big advantage: it has no known negative side effects. Beta Glucan also shows great promise as an adjunct treatment in combination with antitumor antibodies. Studies are underway on combining Beta Glucan with Rituxan, Herceptin, Campath-1, Irinotecan and Erbitux See Study [1].

Traditional chemotherapy results in suppression of the immune system this negative effect limits the dosage and frequency of treatments. Beta Glucan has been documented to significantly improve recovery of irradiation damaged bone marrow See Study [2]. Recently published research from Germany and Turkey found that Beta Glucan stimulates proliferation and activation of white blood cells in patients with advanced breast cancer See Study [3]. These studies indicate the Beta Glucan 1, 3D both helps bone marrow recover from traditional cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and irradiation and increases the biological activities of the newly created white blood cells.

Beta Glucans are highly beneficial to patients undergoing chemotherapy. Chemotherapy kills healthy cells as well as cancer cells and the hope is that the chemo will kill the quick-growing cancer cells more rapidly than the healthy ones that area also under attack. Beta Glucan allows production of white blood cells to restart very quickly after chemotherapy treatment, which speeds recovery of the body.