Background: Fungal alpha and beta-glucans have been used as therapeutic support for thousands of years in Eastern culture. Lentinan, the backbone of beta-(1, 3)-glucan with beta-(1, 6) branch es, is the main ingredient purified from Shiitake mushrooms and has been approved as a biological response modifier for the treatment of gastric cancer in Japan. Active Hexose Correlated Compound (AHCC) is an alpha-glucan rich nutritional supplement derived from the mycelia of shiitake (Lentinula edodes) of the basidiomycete family of mushrooms, a popular integrative medicine in Japan. Lentinan may exert a synergistic action with anti-cancer monoclonal antibodies to modulate complement systems activity through the way of antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity and complement dependent cytotoxicity.

Patients and Methods: Seven subjects with adenocarcinoma diagnosis (pancreatic, lung, colorectal) were recruited, and treated with AHCC (3 g/die).

Lymphocyte typing assays were performed by cytofluorometry (Abbott CELL-DYN Ruby) at start (T₀) and after one month from AHCC administration (T₁).

Results: After one month, neutrophils increased from 41% to 54%; lymphocytes and monocytes decreased, respectively, from 45% to 30% and 10% to 1%; lymphocyte population relationships variations: CD3/CD4 increased from 16% to 30%, CD3/CD8 (suppressor) decreased from 53% to 24%; CD4/CD8 increased from 0.3% to 1.3%; CD3+/CD16+/CD56 Natural Killer (NK) cells increased from 113% to 151%; CD8/CD3 (suppressor/cytotoxic) increased from 3% to 5%.

Conclusion: Results showed that immunological effects provided by alpha-glucans, a possible mode of action of lentinan (not only beta-glucan mediated), should enable us to use lentinan more efficiently in the treatment of cancer, and its clinical application, including future potential uses of alpha and beta glucans association.