- Title
- The application of fungal beta-glucans for the treatment of colon cancer
- Creator
- Chen, Jiezhong; Zhang, Xu Dong; Jiang, Zhengyi
- Relation
- Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry Vol. 13, Issue 5, p. 725-730
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1871520611313050007
- Publisher
- Bentham Science Publishers
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2013
- Description
- Mushrooms have been consumed for their health benefits for thousands of years in China, and the main active component was recently identified as beta-glucan. The immune-stimulating effect of beta-glucans has been well studied, and several beta-glucan receptors have been identified on the surface of immune cells. In addition, mushroom extracts with high levels of beta-glucans have also been shown to have direct cytotoxic effects on cancer cells, and beta-glucans are used for the treatment of cancer. This review summarizes the use of beta-glucans in colon cancer. Evidence has supported the idea that beta-glucans can decrease the size of xenografted colon cancer tumors via the stimulation of the immune system and direct cytotoxicity. Beta-glucans can also have synergistic effects with chemotherapeutic agents and other immune stimulators, and an innovative strategy is to use beta-glucans to deliver nanoparticles containing chemotherapeutic agents to the site of the colon cancer and, thus, improve the therapeutic efficacy.
- Subject
- beta-glucans; macrophages; dendritic cells; cytotoxicity; nanoparticles
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1067298
- Identifier
- uon:18386
- Identifier
- ISSN:1871-5206
- Language
- eng
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