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White button mushrooms appear to boost immune function It appears that a little fungus may be good for what ails you. That's the conclusion of a new study that found that eating white button mushrooms may boost the immune system and protect against infection. If the research, done on animals, translates to people, it could raise the health-benefit profile of the fungus, which also contains high concentrations of the super-antioxidant ergothioneine, which protects cells from damaging free radicals. "This is the first published study showing the effect of white button mushrooms on immune function," Dayong Wu, a scientist in the Immunology Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts and lead author of the study, published in the June issue of the Journal of Nutrition, told NutraIngredients.com. The research also suggests that the mushroom may boost both innate and acquired immune system health. The innate immune system, the one you're born with, is the body's first line of defense. The acquired immune system revs up if a pathogen makes its way past the innate system and customizes the immune response to target the invader.

Age, stress, and poor nutrition can sap our immune system of its effectiveness. Influenza provides one example. During young adulthood, when the body can mount a robust immune response to this common virus, influenza is rarely fatal. Among the elderly, however, the virus is associated with significant rates of death and hospitalization (Nichol KL 2005). The impact of aging on the immune system is profound. As people age, a number of critical immune system components are reduced or slowed, including cellular response, response to vaccines, and antibody production. At the same time, susceptibilities to infection and cancer are increased. Some of this increased susceptibility to disease is linked to chronic inflammation, which is associated with many disorders of aging (Ershler WB et al 2000; Hamerman D 1999; Taaffe DR et al 2000).

Edible mushrooms are a versatile functional food and have been touted as a way to preserve youth, longevity and overall health for centuries. Now nutrition researchers from Arizona State University and Pennsylvania State University are finding that they may even help boost the immune system and reduce inflammation, especially in the colon. Keith R. Martin, ASU assistant professor in nutrition, along with his Penn State colleagues, experimented with various types of mushrooms, from the more common white button to the exotic like shiitake and oyster, to see what sort of effect they had on the immune system. Their paper was published in late February in BMC Immunology, a peer reviewed online journal. "We found that the white button mushroom seemed to be the most effective in boosting the immune system, which is good because they are the most affordable," said Martin.

A recently published study in Nutrition and Cancer (60(5), 643-651) by researchers at Kansai Medical University in Osaka, Japan has shown that AHCC (Active Hexose Correlated Compound) enhances immune function by increasing the number of dendritic cells (DCs). DCs are a key part of the immune system responsible for presenting foreign substances to other immune system cells. The study was conducted in a double-blind randomized fashion where twenty-one healthy subjects received a placebo or AHCC at 3.0 g/day for 4 weeks. Blood samples were obtained and measured at baseline and at 4 weeks. The number of circulating types of DCs was measured which included CD 11c+ DCs (myeloid DC population; DC1) and CD11c- DCs (lymphoid DC population; DC2). Other parameters measured included mixed-leukocyte reaction (MLR), natural killer (NK) cell activity, the proliferative response of T lymphocytes toward mitogen (phytohemagglutinin [PHA]) and cytokine production of interleukin (IL)-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, interferon gamma-gamma, and (alpha)-tumor necrosis factor.

A new approach to cancer treatment called immunotherapy could spare patients at least some of the grueling battery of chemotherapy treatments by retraining the body's own defenders--the cells of the immune system--to recognize and destroy tumors. Now researchers at Harvard University have developed a simple way to do this inside the body: a polymer implant attracts and trains immune-system cells to go after cancer. The experimental approach has shown great success in animal studies, increasing the survival rate of mice with a deadly melanoma from 0 to 90 percent. The implant could also be used to treat diseases of the immune system such as arthritis and diabetes, and, potentially, to train other kinds of cells, including stem cells used to repair damage to the body.

One way tumors fly under the radar of the immune system is by using IDO, an enzyme used by fetuses to help avoid rejection, to recruit powerful regulatory T cells that turn down the immune response, researchers say.

Mushrooms could give the immune system a hand in attacking foreign invaders, if the effects in mice translate to humans.\n\nWhat's more, the common white button mushroom had stronger immune-boosting effects than more exotic -- and more expensive -- fungi such as oyster and shiitake mushrooms, Dr. Keith Martin of Arizona State University in Mesa and his colleagues found

Researchers at McGill University and the University of Pennsylvania have discovered that a widely used anti-diabetic drug can boost the immune system and increase the potency of vaccines and cancer treatments. Their findings will be published June 3 in the journal Nature. The discovery was made by Dr. Russell Jones, an assistant professor at McGill's Goodman Cancer Centre and the Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Yongwon Choi, PhD, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, and postdoctoral fellow Erika Pearce, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania. They discovered that the widely prescribed diabetes treatment metformin increases the efficiency of the immune system's T-cells, which in turn makes cancer and virus-fighting vaccines more effective.

Cancer immunology is the study of interactions between the immune system and cancer cells (also called tumors or malignancies). It is also a growing field of research that aims to discover innovative cancer immunotherapies to treat and retard progression of this disease. The immune response, including the recognition of cancer-specific antigens is of particular interest in this field as knowledge gained drives the development of new vaccines and antibody therapies. For instance in 2007, Ohtani published a paper finding tumour infiltrating lymphocytes to be quite significant in human colorectal cancer.[1] The host was given a better chance at survival if the cancer tissue showed infiltration of inflammatory cells, in particular lymphocytic reactions. The results yielded suggest some extent of anti-tumour immunity is present in colorectal cancers in humans.

Cancer immunotherapies, including cancer vaccines, are novel investigational cancer therapies. In contrast to chemotherapy and radiotherapy regimens that are often associated with severe side effects, cancer immunotherapy stimulates the body's immune system and natural resistance to cancer, thus offering a gentler means of cancer treatment that is less damaging to the rest of the body. Surgery is generally (but not always) performed, prior to immunotherapy, to remove most of the tumor (Hanna MG, Jr. et al 2001; Jocham D et al 2004). Vaccination or immunotherapy prompts the immune system to kill residual cancer cells that persist after surgery and could result in the cancer recurring.

They found some important trends. Granulocytes from people over 50 years old had a reduced ability to kill cancer cells, as did granulocytes from people with cancer. This raises the possibility that cancer is not simply the result of getting too old, but a very specific weakening of the immune system. The most important finding, however, was that the granulocytes' kung-fu grip declined dramatically during the winter months. Here's Dr. Cui: Nobody seems to have any cancer-killing ability during the winter months from November to April.

Is regular exercise a friend or foe of the aging immune system? A systematic review. Haaland DA, Sabljic TF, Baribeau DA, Mukovozov IM, Hart LE. Clin J Sport Med. 2008 Nov;18(6):539-48. Review. PMID: 19001887 doi: 10.1097/JSM.0b013e3181865eec

Mullin GE, Dobs A. Vitamin d and its role in cancer and immunity: a prescription for sunlight. Nutr Clin Pract. 2007 Jun;22(3):305-22. Review. PMID: 17507731 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

The inflammatory Th 17 subset in immunity against self and non-self antigens. Jin D, Zhang L, Zheng J, Zhao Y. Autoimmunity. 2008 Mar;41(2):154-62. Review. PMID: 18324485 DOI: 10.1080/08916930701776605

Arginine and immunity. Popovic PJ, Zeh HJ 3rd, Ochoa JB. J Nutr. 2007 Jun;137(6 Suppl 2):1681S-1686S. Review. PMID: 17513447

Active Hexose Correlated Compound (AHCC) is an alpha-glucan rich nutritional supplement produced from the mycelia of shiitake (Lentinula edodes) of the basidiomycete family of mushrooms, and should not be confused or used as a drug or medicine.[1][2] AHCC was originally designed to lower high-blood pressure. However, researchers at Tokyo University found AHCC's influence upon the innate immune system highly beneficial and published the results in 1992, though not in the commonly indexed scientific literature. In this study, researchers found that AHCC significantly increased natural killer (NK) cell activity in cancer patients, and also enhanced the effects of killer T-cells, and cytokines (interferon, IL-12, TNF-alpha

Biological therapy is a type of treatment that works with your immune system. It can help fight cancer or help control side effects (how your body reacts to the drugs you are taking) from other cancer treatments like chemotherapy.

H. Weiler A platelet cloak for tumor cells Blood, January 1, 2005; 105(1): 5 - 6. Palumbo and colleagues show that platelets and fibrinogen protect metastatic tumor cells from elimination by NK cells, confirming a striking mechanistic link between activation of the blood coagulation system and the spread of tumor metastases

What if we didn't try to cure cancer, but simply kept tumors from growing too big? That's what radiologist Robert Gatenby of the Moffitt Cancer Center proposes this week in the journal Nature. Gatenby argues that high doses of powerful chemotherapies wreak havoc on a patient's immune system and foster the rapid regrowth of chemoresistant cancers that doctors have no hope of fighting.  So instead of curing cancer, he suggests doctors aim to stabilize the tumor at a tolerable size. In practice, this would mean that doctors identify a target size for an individual tumor that gives the patient the best quality of life.  Then, they will regularly monitor the tumor's growth with medical imaging equipment like a PET/CT scanner (see photo), and regulate doses of anticancer drugs to maintain it at a precise volume.

Safety Study of Seneca Valley Virus in Patients With Solid Tumors With Neuroendocrine Features This study is currently recruiting participants. Verified by Neotropix, September 2008 This is the first study in man of Seneca Valley Virus, a virus which seeks and kills certain tumors in non-human model systems. Subjects in this trial will be patients with advanced cancer displaying certain specified neuroendocrine features, pathologically; they will have exhausted standard methods of treatment for their tumor. The primary purpose of the trial is to determine if the virus may be administered safely. Additional purposes are to learn about the distribution of the virus in the body, the elimination of the virus from the body, the immune response to the virus and whether the virus might have some beneficial effects upon the tumors which the patients have. The first patients will be treated with low amounts of virus and subsequent patients may receive higher amounts. At the end of the trial, it is intended to select a dose for further study.