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 2

The effects of AHCC® on T cells in health and disease.

Host or origin of cells	Condition	AHCC® supplementation dose	Effects	Reference
Mice	In vitro	100 μg/mL	Promoted the production of TNF-α by splenic T cells by inducing IL-1 from murine monocytic J744.2 cells	[12]
Mice	West Nile virus infection in young and old mice	Oral, 0.6 g/kg every other day; (15 mg every other day)	Increased γδT cells; Decreased viremia; Decreased mortality in young but not old mice	[27]
Mice	Hepatoma	Oral, 0.36 g/kg/day; With 5-FU; (9 mg/day)	Increased CD4^+ T cell percentage and circulatory IL-2 levels; Potentiate the effect of 5-FU on tumor weight, size, and by AHCC®	[13]
Mice	A hindlimb unloading mouse model of space flight conditions	Oral, 1 g/kg/day; (25 mg/day)	Trend towards increased T cell proliferation not reaching the level of statistical significance	[54]
Mice	Lymphocyte-driven colitis model	Oral, 75 mg/day; (3 g/kg/day)	Decreased STAT4 phosphorylation in splenic CD4^+ T cells; Decreased colitis	[21]
Humans	Healthy volunteers age 50 or older	Oral, 3 g/day	Increased frequency of CD4^+ and CD8^+ T cells producing IFN-γ and/or TNF-α	[28]
Humans	In vitro	500 μg/ml	Promoted the production of IFN-γ and IL-17 by CD4^+ T cells by inducing IL-1β production from monocytes	[20]
Humans	Healthy adults receiving influenza vaccination	Oral, 3 g/day	Increased CD8^+ T cells; Increased NKT cells; Increased protective antibody titers to influenza B strain after influenza vaccination	[25]
Humans	In vitro	250-500 μg/ml	Decreased IL-10, IL-17, and IFN-γ production from purified CD4^+ T cells stimulated with anti-CD3 and CD28 antibodies; No effect on proliferation and survival; No change in FOXP3 expression	Kang et al., unpublished observations

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.