The Effects of AHCC®, a Standardized Extract of Cultured Lentinura edodes Mycelia, on Natural Killer and T Cells in Health and Disease: Reviews on Human and Animal Studies

Table 1

The effects of AHCC® on natural killer (NK) cells in health and disease.

Host	Condition	AHCC® supplementation dose	Effects	Reference
Mice	Influenza viral infection (H1N1)	Oral, 1 g/kg/day; (25 mg/day)	Increased NK cell percentage and activity; Improved survival, lung integrity, and viral titers	[24]
Mice	Influenza viral infection (H1N1)	Oral, 0.1 g/kg/day; (2.5 mg/day)	Increased NK cell lytic efficiency; Improved survival with enhanced viral clearance	[22]
Mice	Melanoma	Oral, 12 mg/day; (0.48 g/kg/day)	Increased NK cell number; Increased γδT cell number; Increased tumor antigen-specific CD8^+ T cells producing IFN-γ; Delayed melanoma development	[16]
Mice	Melanoma	Oral, 10 mg/day with or without i.p. CpG ODN; (0.40 gm/kg/day)	Decreased melanoma development (size) in mice treated with AHCC® alone or AHCC® and CpG ODN; No immune cells analyzed	[18]
Mice	Hepatoma	Oral, 0.36 g/kg/day; With 5-FU; (9 mg/day)	Increased NK cell percentage; Increased CD4^+ T cell percentage; Potentiate the effect of 5-FU on tumor weight, size, and by AHCC®	[13]
Humans	Cancers (open label observational)	Oral, 3 g/day	Enhanced NK cell activity	[17]
Humans	Healthy volunteers: a double-blind, placebo-controlled	Oral, 3 g/day or placebo	No difference in NK cell activity between AHCC® and placebo groups	[26]

Dose used in each study. Dose in g/kg/day was converted to dose in mg/day or vice-versa based on mouse weight of 25 g.