Immunological Effects of Yeast- and Mushroom-Derivedβ-Glucans

Abstract

Glucans have a long history as nonspecific biological modulators. We compared the effects of three different glucans on immune reactions. Using two different administrations (intraperitoneal and oral) and two different animal models, we showed that yeast-derived Betamune (Biorigin, São Paulo, Brazil) caused significant stimulation of phagocytic activity as well as potentiation of synthesis and release of interleukin (IL)-1, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-13, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha. In addition, Betamune inhibited growth of tumor cells in vivo and affected expression of several important genes in breast cancer cells. Compared to adult mice, young animals showed different sensitivity to glucan action.

Effects of yeast-derived β-glucans on blood cholesterol and macrophage functionality

“…The effects were not only dose-dependent, but also showed a major difference when based on the type of glucan. Despite the fact that Betamune has a stronger effect on immune reactions (Vetvicka et al, 2008), the fact that both glucans are insoluble suggests that the answer to the Figure 4. Effect of long-term feeding with glucan on blood triglyceride levels in experimentally-induced hypercholesterolemia.…”

“…We evaluated two yeast-derived glucans -insoluble WGP and insoluble Betamune. Both these glucans and their activities are well documented (Yan et al, 2003(Yan et al, , 2005, including full toxicological assessment (Babicek et al, 2007), and are considered to be highly active glucans (Vetvicka et al, 2008). As the effectiveness of orally-administered glucans was fully established (Hong et al 2004;Li et al, 2006), glucans are currently nearing use in clinical practice.…”

“…To overcome the deficiencies of older studies, we decided to use two highly-characterized yeast-derived glucans (Hong et al, 2004;Vetvicka and Vetvickova, 2007;Vetvicka et al, 2008) on normal and hypercholesterolemic mice. Unlike the older investigation, this report is the first to use two different, highly-purified glucans rather than crude cereal extracts.…”

Time and concentration dependency of MacroGard® induced apoptosis

“…In both mammals and fish, β-glucan recognition results in the activation of macrophages, which induces phagocytosis, leukocyte migration and the production of cytokines (e.g. IL-1, TNFα), nitric oxide (NO) and reactive oxygen species, as well as the enhancement of complement activity [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17].…”

Dietary β-glucan Leads to Increased TNF-α Production in the Lung

“…Found in mushrooms, yeast and grains, β-glucans promote resistance to diseases caused by microorganisms through enhancement of both innate and adaptive immune responses (Vetvicka et al, 2008;Vetvicka and Vetvickova, 2012) and therefore are used as a dietary feed supplement to promote the health of humans and animals.…”