The Mushroom Agaricus blazei Murill Elicits Medicinal Effects on Tumor, Infection, Allergy, and Inflammation through Its Modulation of Innate Immunity and Amelioration of Th1/Th2 Imbalance and Inflammation

Table 2

Clinical studies with Agaricus blazei Murill (AbM).

Patients disease	No. of subjects	Treatment	Clinical effect	Refs. (no., year, country)
Acute nonlymphocytic leukemia	10	Chemo + AbM	Inhibition of leukemic cells	[42], 1994, Japan
Gynecological cancer	100	Chemo + AbM Kyowa or placebo, 9 wk	↑ NK cell activity, ↑ QOL	[31], 2004, Republic of Korea
IFNα-resistant chron. HCV infection	4	AndoSan extract 60 mL/d for 7 d	Insignificant ↓ HCV load, but ↑ IFNαβ receptor and “antitumor gene” expression	[46], 2006, Norway
Chron. HBV infection	4	AbM extract 1.5 g/d, 12 mo	Normalized liver function; ↓ASAT ↓ ALAT levels	[47], 2007, Taiwan
Diabetes type 2	72	AbM 1.5 g/d or placebo 12 wk	Improved insulin resistance	[48], 2008, Taiwan
Healthy volunteers	15	AndoSan 60 mL/d for 12 d	No toxicity, Anti-inflammatory	[23], 2009, Norway
Inflammatory bowel diseases (*Ulcerative colitis and Mb Crohn)	21	AndoSan 60 mL/d for 12 d	Anti-inflammatory; ↓ proinflammatory cytokines in blood and ↓*calprotectin in feces	[24], 2011, Norway

Abbreviations: ASAT aspartate aminotransferase, ALAT alanine aminotransferase, QOL quality of life. AndoSan is an AbM-based extract also containing 15% H. erinaceum and 3% G. frondosa.