Category Archives: Types Of Extract

A Review of Research on the Protein-Bound Polysaccharide from the Mushroom Coriolus Versicolor

Mushrooms are known for their nutritional and medicinal value (Breene, 1990) and also for the diversity of bioactive compounds they contain. The mushroom Coriolus versicolor (Yun Zhi) was recorded in the Compendium of Materia Medica by Li Shi Zhen during the Ming Dynasty in China, as being beneficial to health and able to bring longevity if consumed regularly. Various products derived from this mushroom and claimed to have medicinal value are commercially available. Among them, PSK (Sakagami et al., 1991) and PSP are the most prominent. It is the intent of this article to summarize research data pertaining to PSP.

PSK (Sakagami et al., 1991) and PSP are two chemically related products of the mushroom Coriolus versico~or isolated from deeplayer cultivated mycelia of the COV-1 and CM-101 strains, by Chinese and Japanese investigators, respectively. The similarities and differences of the two products have been pointed out by the Fungi Research Institute (1993a). Both possess a molecular weight of approximately 100 kDa and their polypeptide moieties are rich in aspartic acid and glutamic acid. Monosaccharides with o~-1,4 and [3-1,3 glucosidic linkages constitute the pol~saccharide moieties of PSP and PSK: fucose is found in the latter¢ whereas arabinose and rhamnose occur in the former. Both PSP and PSK have been found to be immunoenhancing and effective against tumor cells.

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PSK does not surpress conversion from 1-(2-tetrahydrofuryl)-5-fluorouracil to 5-fluorouracil in patients with gastric cancer.

Effects of the immunomodulator PSK on the metabolism of 1-(2-tetrahydrofuryl)-5-fluorouracil (tegafur) to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) were examined in 10 patients with advanced gastric cancer and who had undergone curative resection. PSK is a protein-bound preparation, extracted from Coriolus versicolor and belongs to Basidiomycetes. The 5-FU concentration in the plasma was 0.024 micrograms/ml at 15 min after the intravenous injection of 400 mg of tegafur and the area under the curve of 5-FU was 0.58 micrograms.h/ml. Following administration of PSK, 3 g/day for 8-14 months, there was no change in the plasma level of 5-FU, in any patient. As the clinical dose of PSK had no apparent influence on the metabolism of tegafur to 5-FU, the combination of PSK and tegafur can be prescribed to treat patients with advanced gastric cancer.

A BIOLOGICAL RESPONSE MODIFIER, PSK, INHIBITS

We found that PSK has an antiviral effect on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in vitro. One of the mechanisms of this effect is attributable to the inhibition of binding of HIV with lymphocytes. Here, we found that PSK inhibits reverse transcriptase in a non-competitive way in vitro. Such inhibition may be important in its anti-HIV effect as well as its inhibitory effect on the binding of HIV with lymphocytes.

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PSP Coriolus Extract – How It Works (Mechanism Of Action) – MD Anderson, Texas

The multiple and complex mechanisms of action of Coriolus Versicolor PSP have been demonstrated through in vitro and animal studies. Coriolus PSP has suppressed the growth of human cancer cell lines in mice (sarcoma 180, lung adenocarcinoma and Lewis lung cancer).

It has also inhibited incorporation of two structural units of DNA (uridine and thymidine) in Ehrlich ascites tumor cells, inhibited the growth of P388 leukemia cells, and demonstrated anti-proliferative activity against cell lines of human gastric cancer, lung cancer, lymphoma, and mononuclear leukemia.

Coriolus PSP has reversed tumor-induced immunodeficiencies in sarcoma-bearing mice by increasing immunoglobulin G and C3 complement levels9. It has also been associated with increases in white blood cell count, serum IgG, CD4, CD8, B-lymphocytes, and neutrophils, along with a higher survival rate of tumor bearing mice3. Many of these effects have been attributed to PSP being a strong scavenger of superoxide and hydroxyl radicals. Coriolus Versicolor PSP has also been found to restrict the cell cycle of HL-60 leukemic cells through apoptosis.
These and other immune effects of PSK and PSP are described in reviews by Fisher and Yang, Ooi and Liu and Chu, Ho and Chow.

Source: (mdanderson.org)

Coriolus Versicolor PSP Clinical Trials

PSP and clinical trials

While PSK has been almost exclusively developed and tested within Japan, PSP in contrast is a product of China and continues to be assessed for efficacy safety by their scientists and oncologists.  There is a close similarity between PSK and PSP polypeptides although PSP lacks fucose and instead contains arabinose and rhamnose.  Since the first development of PSP in 1983 there has been rapid progress through human clinical trials.  Phase I clinical trials were carried out by Xu (1993) and it was shown that an oral dose of up to 6g/day was well talented and lacking in side-effects.  Patients showed improvement in appetite and general condition, together with a stabilisation of haematopoietic parameters.

The Phase II study by the Shanghai PSP Research Group with 8 hospitals in Shanghai was carried out using patients with cancers of the stomach, lung and oesophagus. The dosage was 1g three times daily to a total of 190g.  Results confirmed the role of PSP as a biological response modifer improving the immunological status of the patients after surgery, radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy (Liu and Zhou, 1993).  Following the success of the Phase II clinical trials, a Phase III trial was conducted in a large cohort of patients (650) in Shanghai hospitals.  189 were randomised to taking PSP and placebo;  461 patients were unblinded to their therapy (Liu et al., 1999).  These trials showed that PSP improved disease-free survival of gastric, oesophageal and non-small-cell lung cancers while again substantially reducing the normal unpleasant side-effects of conventional treatments (Sun and Zhu, 1999; Sun et al., 1999).  PSP had a protective effect on the immunological functions of conventionally-treated patients, thus demonstrating that PSP can be classified as a clinical biological response modifier.  Other BRMs such as LAK cells, IL-2, ? y IFN or TNF are also being used in the treatment of advanced cancer cases (Liu, 1999).  Yet, these drugs at effective doses, in many cases, produce quite severe side-effects such as fevers, chills, rashes, arthralgia, hypotension, oliguria, pulmonary oedema, congestive heart failure and CNS toxicities.  Mao et al. (1998) have shown dramatic anti-tumour effects when PSP was combined with IL-2.  As side-effects of IL-2 are dosage and schedule dependent, it isreasonable to expect that with PSP, a lower dose of IL-2 could be used clinically withsubsequent decrease in the severity of the side-effects (McCune and Chang, 1993).

A further observation noted that PSP in combination with radiotherapy induced a significant increase in the percentage of apoptotic cells at 24h, compared with radiation alone, and it has been surmised that the antitumour mechanism of PSPaction may also involve the induction of DNA damage by apoptosis in the target cancer cells (Stephens et al., 1991). A common adverse reaction of radiotherapy and chemotherapy is haematopoietic toxicity.  Several studies have shown a strong amelioration of thesetoxic effects by PSP (Shiu et al., 1992; Sun et al., 1999).

In a double-blind Phase II trial in Shanghai hospitals almost 300 patients suffering from gastric, oesophageal or lung cancer  were treated with conventional radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy together with PSP or shark liver oil (batyl alcohol).  Quality of life was assessed by marked improvement of clinical symptoms as well as improvements in blood profiles and/or immune indices and significant improvement in Karnovsky performance status or body weight.   PSP improved overall clinical symptoms, together with most symptoms associated with cancer therapy.  PSP was found to be effective for 82% of the patients compared with 48%for batyl alcohol (Liu and Zhou, 1993).

Many Phase III clinical trials of PSP combined with conventional therapies have demonstrated significant benefits against cancers of the stomach, oesophagus and lung (Jong and Yang, 1999; Yang, 1999).  Most studies with PSP have not fullyexplored the long-term survival benefit although in an open-label, randomised trial in oesophageal cancer has shown that PSP did significantly improve one-year and three-year survival (Yao, 1999).  Liu (1999) has commented on the favourable action of PSP in patients receiving bone autologous marrow transplants.

The corpus of laboratory and clinical evidence that PSP offers considerable benefits to patients suffering from cancers of the stomach, oesophagus and lung have led to the Chinese Ministry of Public Health granting it a regulatory license.

Extracts taken from: THE ROLE OF POLYSACCHARIDES DERIVED FROM MEDICINAL MUSHROOMS IN CANCER (icnet.uk)

Hartford Hospital, Conneticut & Coriolus Vericolor PSK/PSP

What Hartford Hospital in Conneticut has to say about Coriolus Versicolor

“Currently, extracts of Coriolus versicolor called polysaccharide-K (PSK) and polysaccharopeptide (PSP) are under study as immune stimulants for use alongside chemotherapy in the treatment of cancer. These two related substances, made from slightly different strains of the fungus, are thought to act as “biological response modifiers,” meaning that they affect the body’s response to cancer.

According to most but not all reported trials, most of which were performed in Asia, both PSK and PSP can enhance the effects of various forms of standard cancer treatment. For example, in a 28-day double-blind , placebo-controlled study of 34 people with advanced non–small-cell lung cancer, use of Coriolus extracts along with conventional treatment significantly slowed the progression of the disease.

It is thought that Coriolus extracts work by stimulating the body’s own cancer-fighting cells. PSK and PSP may also have cancer-preventive effects.
In addition, very weak evidence hints that extracts of Coriolus versicolor might be helpful for HIV infection.”

(Source: www.hartfordhospital.org)