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International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms

ISSN for PRINT: 1521-9437

Institutional price:	$538.00
Issues per year:	4

Best Paper Award Selection - Editorial Board Site

2007, Volume9

96 pages

DOI: 10.1615/IntJMedMushr.v9.i1

Issue price - $149.00

Potential Benefits of Ling Zhi or Reishi Mushroom Ganoderma lucidum (W. Curt.: Fr.) P. Karst. (Aphyllophoromycetideae) to Breast Cancer Patients

Alice W. Chen
Specialty Mushrooms, 1730 Penfield Rd., No.41, Penfield, NY 14526, USA

John Seleen
JHS Natural Products, Eugene, OR, USA

ABSTRACT

We present a model case study of a stage IIIa breast cancer patient adapting to the adjuvant use of Ganoderma lucidum in conjunction with a standard regimen of breast cancer treatments (presurgery ACT chemotherapy, surgery, radiotherapy, and postsurgery chemoprevention). According to the personal account of the authors of this research, G. lucidum triterpene-enriched polysaccharide extract of a new hybrid, Reishi Gano 161, containing 12% β-D-glucan and 6% triterpenes, was beneficial to the patient in numerous ways, such as effective tumor shrinkage, minimal or transient side effects from chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and improvement of the quality of life, compared to the experience of patients who used only conventional cancer treatments. New studies unveiled the molecular mechanism of the antitumor activity of this legendary medicinal mushroom, which appeared to be based on the inhibition of the nuclear transcription factor, NF-kappaB (NF-κB). NF-κB is overexpressed in various cancer cell lines and can serve as a molecular target for the development of more precise chemoprevention and anticancer therapy.