Description
Ganoderma Lucidum Extract for
use in Prostate Cancer Prevention
Summary
Ganoderma Lucidum (GL), also
known as LingZhi in Chinese and Reishi in Japanese, is a popular medicinal
fungus that was described 2000 years ago and is used to treat various diseases
such as hypertension, diabetes, hepatitis, cancer and cardiovascular problems.
GL has been demonstrated to possess anti-cancer activity. Many chemical
constituents of GL have been identified. The polysaccharide and triterpene
fractions of GL are believed to contribute the most to its anti-cancer effect,
through, as yet, an unknown mechanism of action. We have identified an
active component which has potential chemoprevention properties in prostate
cancer. Prostate Intra-epithelial Neoplasia (PIN) precedes prostate cancer by 10
years and a key precursor lesion for chemo-preventative drug development. It
occurs in 40% of 40 year old men & 70% of 80 year old men. The triterpene
fraction has been shown to have anti-proliferative, invasive and anti-angiogenic
capabilities in vitro & in vivo with no
toxicity.
Ganoderma Lucidum
Key Benefits
· Safe,
chemoprevention agent
· Prostate
pre-malignant lesions are very common in over 40’s and high-risk lesions
identified
Harvesting Ganoderma
Lucidum
IP Status
Novel extraction process & chemical
finger-print established (Patent CN101374620 Filed 2007 SIMM)
Triterpene fraction shown to possess
potent biological activities (Patent 0800134.9 Filed 2008 The University of
Nottingham).
Triterpene
Prostate Cancer Tissue
Technical
Information
Triterpene showed the following
effects:
Anti-proliferative effect on growth of
both malignant and pre-malignant prostate cell lines. (Fig. 1)
Anti-angiogenic properties - inhibits
the growth of tubular formation with an average of 1.29 branches/tube compared
to positive VEGF (10.56 branches/tube and medium only (3.67
branches/tube). (Fig 2)
Fig. 2
Reduced migration & cell invasion -
DU145 migration was reduced by 58% (p<0.001***) at IC25, and the migration
WPE1-NB26 (p<0.001***) by 76% at IC25. (Fig. 3)
Results of quantitative PCR showed that
E-cadherin was up-regulated (p<0.05*), and N-cad, c-met and vimentin were
down-regulated (p<0.05*) in triterpene-treated cells. (Fig. 4)
The invasive ability of 15μg/ml (IC25) of triterpene-treated WPE1-NB26 was
analyzed by a cell branching assay. Triterpene-treated cells showed less
branching than non-treated cells. (Fig. 5)
Fig. 5
Proteomic evaluation of WPE1-NB26 showed
Vimentin, an EMT marker, to be down-regulated in treated cells. A glycolytic
enzyme-Enolase α, on the other hand, was up-regulated. (Fig. 6)
Significant inhibition of PIN xenograft
in vivo was observed which was additive when combined with doxorubicin. (Fig.
7)
