Immunomodulatory activities of Ganoderma sinense and Ganoderma spores

Ganoderma sinense (GS, an allied species of Ganoderma lucidum) and Ganoderma spores (SP) are widely consumed for health promotion in Asia nowadays. As dietary supplement, the detailed scientific research of GS and SP was seldom reported. In our previous study, different parts of the fruiting body of GS showed differential anti-proliferative effects on human breast cancer cells [1]. In the present study, the immunomodulatory effects of a water extract of GS on human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and the immunostimulating effects of SP in Balb/c mice were conducted. The proliferations of PBMC and mouse spleen lymphocytes were determined by thymidine incorporation assay, while the productions of various cytokines were determined by ELISA. The sporoderm-broken SP dispersed in water (1, 2 or 4g/kg body weight; n=17) and water treatment (as control) were orally administered to sarcoma-bearing mice for 14 days. The proliferative responses and the cytokine productions of spleen lymphocytes isolated from treated mice were measured. Our results indicated that GS extract (50–400µg/ml) significantly increased the proliferative response of PBMC and IFN-γ production in a dose-dependent manner (p<0.05at all tested concentrations using Students' t-test). However, the proliferation and the production of IL-2 and IFN-γ in phytohemagglutinin-activated PBMC were significantly (p<0.05) suppressed by GS extract (100–400µg/ml). Besides, our results demonstrated that the proliferative response of spleen lymphocytes on SP (4g/kg)-treated mice was significantly increased to 5.5-fold (p<0.001) when compared to those of untreated mice. The cytokines (IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-4 and IL-6) produced by spleen lymphocytes were significantly enhanced by SP-treatment, showing the immunostimulating activity of SP in mouse immune system. In conclusion, this is the first scientific report of the immunomodulatory activity of GS and SP on human and murine lymphocytes, respectively.

References: [1] Yue, G. et al. (2006) J Altern Complement Med. 12(8):777–89.