Comparison of immunological effects of commercially available β-glucans

Abstract

Biological and most of all immunological effects of natural immunomodulator glucan are already well established. However, since hundreds of individual glucans, isolated from various sources, used at different concentrations and having different physicochemical characteristics are being used, the current scientific knowledge is not complete. In addition, direct comparisons of individual glucans are quite rare. In the present paper, we tested fifteen varieties of glucans differing in source and solubility. Whereas no direct connection between source and immunological effects was found, we can conclude that the best glucans have pleiotropic effects stimulating all facets of immunological reactions, whereas other glucans have low effects or none at all.

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Applied Scientic Reports
ISSN 2054-9903 | Volume 1 | Article 2
Special Section | Biological Sciences | Research Open Access
Comparison of immunological effects of commercially
available β-glucans
Vaclav Vetvicka* and Jana Vetvickova
Abstract
Biological and most of all immunological effects of natural immunomodulator glucan are already well
established. However, since hundreds of individual glucans, isolated from various sources, used at different
concentrations and having different physicochemical characteristics are being used, the current scientific
knowledge is not complete. In addition, direct comparisons of individual glucans are quite rare. In the
present paper, we tested fifteen varieties of glucans differing in source and solubility. Whereas no direct
connection between source and immunological effects was found, we can conclude that the best glucans
have pleiotropic effects stimulating all facets of immunological reactions, whereas other glucans have low
effects or none at all.
Keywords: Glucan, phagocytosis, IL-2, antibodies, breast cancer, superoxide anion
© 2014 Vetvicka et al; licensee Herbert Publications Ltd. is is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0). is permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Introduction
β1, 3-D-glucans (hereafter referred to as glucans) form part of
a group of natural biologically active compounds generally
called biological response modifiers. These molecules are highly
conserved carbohydrates forming structural components of
cell walls of yeast, fungi, seaweed, and cereals. Generally, the
term glucan is some times used as a chemical name of glucose
polymer and represents a group of chemically heterogeneous
carbohydrates consisting of various numbers of glucose mol-
ecules bound together in several types of linkages.
The history of glucan began over 50 years ago with two diff-
erent starting points—one originated in Europe and the United
States and the second in Japan. Research on glucans in the
Euro-American milieu was based on the immunomodulatory
effects of zymosan (mixture of polysaccharides isolated from
the cell walls of Saccharomyces cerevisiae). On the other hand,
the Japanese research was based on Asian medicine, where
consuming medicinal mushrooms (such as shiitake or reishi)
has been a long tradition.
The biological effects of glucans are already well established
and reach from stimulation of anti-infectious immunity to
potentiation of cancer defense, from stress reduction to red-
uction of cholesterol (for review see [
1
,
2
]). In addition to various
animal studies, where glucans were found to be active in wide
range of species, basically from shrimp to horses, the effects
of glucans have also been also examined in human models.
Soluble glucan was found to decrease the infection incidence
and need for antibiotics [3]. Recently, glucan was successfully
used as part of a vaccine for high risk neuroblastoma [
4
]. In
addition, a series of clinical studies showed strong effects on
the treatment of children with chronic respiratory problems
[5,6]. In Japan, glucan has been widely used, since 1983, in the
treatment of gastrointestinal cancer [7].
Over 7,000 publications describing various biological eff-
ects of glucans can be found in scientific literature. One of the
problems resulting in low acceptance of glucans in current
medicine is the fact that, despite the overwhelming number
of scientific reports, far too many individual glucans have
been used that differ widely in source, solubility, molecular
weight, branching and other physicochemical characteristics.
Diverse data on the comparison of structure, molecular size,
and biological effects can be found in the literature [2]. Some
studies suggest that the effects are dependent on the helical
conformation [
8
]. However, the triple helix structure most likely
is not a solely effective form of glucan, because alkaline treat-
ment, used in most isolation procedures, destroys this structure
[9].
In addition, various concentrations and routes of admini-
stration (oral, intraperitoneal, intravenous, subcutaneous) have
been tested. All this leads to severe confusion, with numerous
*Correspondence: Vaclav.vetvicka@louisville.edu
Department of Pathology, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA.
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manufacturers claiming that their glucan possesses the highest
biological activities. The problem of diverse data can be solved
only by comparative studies. However, scientific reports directly
comparing individual glucans are limited [
10
-
15
], with only
one really comprehensive study being published during last
5 years [16]. This led us to the current comparative review of
15 different commercially available glucans.
Methods
Animals
Female, 8 week old BALB/c mice were purchased from the
Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME). All animal work was done
according to the University of Louisville IACUC protocol. Ani-
mals were sacrificed by CO
2
asphyxiation followed by cervical
dislocation.
Material
All glucans were either donated or purchased from the manu-
facturers or distributors as shown in Table 1.
Cell lines
Human myeloblastic cell line HL-60 was obtained from the ATCC
(Manassas, VA). The BALB/c mouse-derived mammary tumor
cell line Ptas 64 was generously provided by Dr. Wei-Zen Wei
of the Michigan Cancer Foundation, Wayne State University,
Detroit, MI. The cells were maintained in RPMI 1640 (Sigma
Chemical Co., St. Louis, MO) medium containing HEPES (Sigma)
buffer supplemented with 10% heat-inactivated FCS (Hyclone
Lab., Logan, UT), without antibiotics, in plastic disposable
tissue culture flasks at 37°C in a 5% CO2/95% air incubator.
Tumor inhibition in vivo
Mice were injected directly into their mammary fat pads with
1x10
6
/mouse of Ptas64 cells in PBS. The experimental treat-
ment was begun after palpable tumors were found (app. 14
days after injection of cells) and after mice were assigned to
experimental groups. Experimental treatment was achieved
by intraperitoneal injections of tested samples diluted in PBS
(once/day for 14 days). After treatment, the mice were sacrificed,
tumors removed and weighed [17]. These experiments were
repeated three times with 3 mice per each group.
Phagocytosis
Phagocytosis of synthetic polymeric microspheres was de-
scribed earlier [
18
]. Briefly: 0.1 ml of peripheral blood from mice
injected with various doses of glucan or PBS was incubated
in vitro with 0.05 ml of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate particles
(HEMA; 5x108/ml). The tubes were incubated at 37oC for 60 min.,
with intermittent shaking. Smears were stained with Wright
stain (Sigma). The cells with three or more HEMA particles were
considered positive. Mice were injected with either glucan or
PBS (control). All experiments were performed in triplicate. At
least 300 cells were examined in each experiment.
IL-2 secretion
Purfed spleen cells (2x10
6
/ml n RPMI 1640 medum wth 5%
FCS) obtaned from mce njected wth 100 mg glucan or PBS
were added nto wells of a 24-well tssue culture plate. Cells
were ncubated for 48 hrs n a humdfed ncubator (37
o
C, 5%
CO2/95% ar). Addton of 1 mg of Concanavaln A (Sgma)
was used as a postve control. At the endpont of ncubaton,
supernatants were collected, fltered through 0.45 mm flters
and tested for the presence of IL-2 usng a Quantkne mouse
IL-2 kt (R&D Systems, Mnneapols, MN).
Antibody formation
The technique was described earlier [
16
]. Briefly: formation
of antibodies was evaluated using ovalbumin (Sigma) as an
Glucan Source Solubility Manufacturer
Beat Max Ye a s t Insoluble Chisolm Biological Laboratories, Aiken, SC
Oat Beta Glucan Oat Insoluble Health Breakthroughs, Lake Oswego, OR
Bio-Glucan Ye a st Insoluble Pharma Nord, Vojens, Denmark
Qore defense Mushroom Insoluble Quivana, Provo, UT
Immunox 3-6 Ye a s t Insoluble Xymogen, Orlando, FL
Betacan 500 Ye a s t Insoluble Arrowhead Healthworks, Cedarpine Park, CA
Glucan Real Mushroom Soluble QueGen Biotech, South Korea
MC-Glucan Mushro om Soluble Macrocare Tech, South Korea
Beta Glucan (Germany) Ye a s t Insoluble Biotikon, Germany
Barley Glucan Barley Insoluble Sigma, St. Louis, MO
Beta Glucan Mushroom/yeast Partly soluble Vitabase, Monroe, GA
Reishi Mushroom Soluble Hostdefence, Olympia, WA
Beta Glucan Yea s t Insoluble Greenpath, Wrightsville Beach, NC
Hliva ustricna Mushroom Insoluble Walmark, Trinec, Czech Republic
Glucan #300 Ye a s t Insoluble Transfer Point, Columbia, SC
Table 1. Types of glucan used.

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antigen. Mice were injected twice (two weeks apart) with 100
µg of albumin and the serum was collected 7 days after last
injection. Experimental groups were getting daily ip. injections
of glucan. Level of specific antibodies against ovalbumin was
detected by ELISA. As positive control, combination of oval-
bumin and Freunds adjuvant (Sigma) was used.
Superoxide production
Mouse neutrophils were isolated using Ficoll-Hypaque
separation as described [
19
]. Cells (either peripheral blood
neutrophils or HL-60 cell line) were incubated in a final volume
of 200 µl of medium containing 0.1% gelatin and 100 µM
cytochrome C (Sigma). Mice were challenged with 100 µg of
individual glucans 24 hrs earlier. Cells were incubated with
1 µg/ml of glucans for 24 hrs. For the superoxide production,
the reaction was initiated by the addition of 5 ng/ml PMA
(Sigma). Incubation was terminated by rapid cooling the cells.
Superoxide production was quantitated by measuring the
reduction of cytochrome c (Type VI, Sigma, 100 nmol/tube).
After gentle mixing, the absorbance was measured 30 minutes
after incubation at 37
o
C using multiwell spectrophotometer at
550 nm. Results are expressed as nanomoles of cytochrome
C reduced/2.5x105 cells/30 minutes, after subtraction of the
superoxide dismutases and spontaneous release controls [
19
].
IFNγ production
Twenty four hours after ip. injection with 100 µg of glucan,
the mice were sacrificed, blood collected, serum prepared
and filtered through 0.45 µm filter. The level of IFNγ was deter-
mined using Quantikine mouse IFNγ kit (R&D Systems, Min-
neapolis, MN, USA) as described earlier [14].
Results
Glucans are manufactured, tested and used in almost every
country of the world. For our study, we decided to use several
samples differing in the source (yeast, mushroom, oat and
barley), solubility (both soluble and insoluble), and origin
(United States, Germany, Denmark, South Korea and Czech
Republic). All of these glucans are commercially available,
often in several countries. Basic information about individual
types of glucan and their manufacturers or distributors are
given in Table 1. Almost none of the manufacturers provide
any information about solubility. We tested the solubility by
solubilization of three different concentrations of glucan in
water at 22oC under constant shaking for 30 minutes. Based
on the amount of sugar measurable in the solution after filtra-
tion (data not shown), we called the sample soluble (over 90%
of glucan), semisoluble (20-89%) or insoluble (below 20%).
The effects of glucans on cellular immunity are well estab-
lished. Usually, the test of choice are the effects on phagocytosis,
as if the glucan does not stimulate phagocytosis, it might have
little effects on additional facets of the defense reactions. As
in our previous comparative study, we employed synthetic
hydroxyethyl methacrylate particles [16] known for minimal
nonspecific adhesion to the membrane of phagocytosing
cells [
20
]. We injected the mice with different doses of glucan
and 24 hrs later tested the effects of glucans on phagocytic
ability of peripheral blood neutrophils. Data shown in Table 2
Dose (mg) 25 50 100 200 400 800
BetaMax 33.1±2.9 30.9±3.1 35.1±4.2 37.7±3.2*38.8±3.5*37.9±2.9*
Oat Beta Glucan 30.7±1.9 32.5±2.7 34.1±2.8 33.6±2.6 35.5±3.7 36.2±2.8
Bio-Glucan 32.5±2.6 34.1±2.5 38.8±3.1*40.2±3.0*42.8±3.3*44.1±3.1*
Qore defense 30.9±2.2 33.7±2.9 34.9±3.2 35.9±3.1 36.6±1.8 36.8±4.2
Immunox 3-6 38.5±2.2*39.9±3.3*43.4±4.1*45.3±3.1*46.2±4.1*46.9±3.2*
Betacan 500 32.1±1.8 33.2±2.8 34.8±3.3 36.6±2.8 35.8±2.9 37.7±3.2
Glucan Real 31.8±1.8 34.2±3.3 37.1±1.2*40.2±1.7*42.2±1.9*44.4±2.9*
MC-Glucan 31.8±1.6 34.1±0.9 34.1±2.7 38.1±1.9 38.9±2.2 40.7±2.2
Beta Glucan (Germany) 32.6±2.2 35.1±2.1 37.1±1.8*37.9±2.2*38.1±1.9*41.1±2.1*
Barley Glucan 31.8±1.1 32.1±0.8 33.1±0.9 34.1±2.1 35.8±3.2 34.8±2.2
Beta Glucan (Vitabase) 32.6±2.2 32.6±0.8 33.1±1.9 32.9±2.3 34.7±2.8 35.1±4.3
Reishi 31.7±0.7 33.1±0.9 35.6±1.9 37.6±1.0*38.9±2.4*40.6±2.7*
Beta Glucan (Greenpath) 30.9±0.9 31.8±1.1 33.1±1.5 34.0±1.1 34.6±2.3 35.1±3.3
Hliva ustricna 31.5±1.1 32.8±2.1 34.1±2.4 35.2±3.0 34.7±2.4 35.1±2.8
Glucan #300 44.1±2.5*48.8±2.1*55.7±3.2*56.1±2.9*55.9±3.2*60.9±4.0*
Control values (PBS) were 31.3±2.7. e dose means a single ip. injection in PBS/mouse.
*Signicant dierences between glucan and PBS at <0.05 level. Results shown as percentage of
phagocytosing blood neutrophils represent mean±SD, n was always more than 10.
Table 2. Eects of various glucans on phagocytosis.

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demonstrate the effects of various doses of tested glucan
on phagocytosis of peripheral blood neutrophils. Several
trends can be observed–clear dose-dependency, several
glucans showed no activity even at the highest doses, and
the most active glucan (Glucan #300) reached the plateau at
a dose of 100 µg, with the level of stimulation not achieved
by other glucans even at a dose of 800 µg. The glucans with
consistent significant effects were Immunox 3-6 and Glucan
#300. Several others were active from the higher doses (Bio-
Glucan, Glucan-Real, Reishi and Beta Glucan from Germany).
Phagocytosis results in internalization of the prey, but rep-
resents only one of the several subsequent steps, leading to
burst of metabolic activity and final killing and/or destruction
of the ingested material. Therefore, we evaluated the effects of
our glucans on production of superoxide anion. To make sure
the test produced accurate data, we used two experimental
in vitro models–human cell line HL-60 and mouse neutro-
phils. Data shown in
Table 3
confirmed that almost all tested
glucans significantly increased the formation of superoxide
anion, with only Oat Beta Glucan and Barley Glucan having
no activity at all. The most active glucan was Glucan #300
followed by Bio-Glucan and MC-Glucan. For comparison, the
levels obtained using resveratrol-vitamin C-glucan mixture
reached 1.99 nmol/2.5x105 cells.
Glucans also have significant effects on various cytokines.
To compare the effects of our group of glucans, we measured
the production of IFN-γ in the blood (in vivo experiment) and
Glucan Mouse neutrophils
(nmol/2.5x105 cells)
HL-60
BetaMax 1.12±0.11*1.23±0.25*
Oat Beta Glucan 0.35±0.05 0.44±0.11
Bio-Glucan 1.44±0.23*1.48±0.37*
Qore Defense 0.65±0.24*0.64±0.15*
Immunox 3-6 1.07±0.25*1.22±0.21*
Betacan 500 0.87±0.30*0.79±0.29*
Glucan Real 1.31±0.25*1.43±0.36*
MC-Glucan 1.44±0.41*1.55±0.26*
Beta Glucan (Germany) 0.78±0.22*0.99±0.32*
Barley Glucan 0.38±0.09 0.43±0.12
Beta Glucan (Vitabase) 0.78±0.13*0.88±0.23*
Reishi 0.99±0.23*1.12±0.34*
Beta Glucan (Greenpath) 0.76±0.22*0.89±0.24*
Hliva ustricna 0.56±0.12*0.75±0.21*
Glucan #300 1.69±0.34*1.55±0.27*
PBS 0.25±0.08 0.35±0.07
*Signicant dierences between glucan sample and PBS
control at P<0.05 level. Results represent mean±SD,
n was always more than 10.
Table 3. Eect of individual glucans on superoxide anion
production.
IL-2 by splenocytes (in vitro). The secretion of IL-2 by untreated
murine splenocytes is zero, therefore all glucans significantly
increased the IL-2 production (
Table 4
). It is clear, that the
Concanavalin A elicited the highest response, with Glucan
#300 being close. Several other glucans showed high activ-
ity–Bio-Glucan, Immunox 3-6, Glucan Real and MC-Glucan.
Similar effects were seen in stimulation of IFN-γ secretion.
Again, due to absolutely minimal level of IFN-γ in control
mice, all glucan caused statistically significant stimulation.
The glucans with highest activity were Glucan #300, Immunox
3-6, Beta Glucan (Germany) and Reishi. As positive control, we
used in vivo stimulation with LPS which increased the IFN-γ
level in the blood up to 400-500 pg/ml.
Table 4. Eect of individual glucans on IL-2 and IFN-γ secretion.
All glucans showed signicant stimulation of IL-2 secretion
at P<0.01 level. e PBS control showed no IL-2 production.
All glucans showed signicant stimulation of IFNγ secretion
when compared to PBS (P<0.01 level). Results represent
mean±SD, n was always more than 10.
In the next step, we focused on the role of tested substances
in cancer development. As an experimental model, we used
mice challenged with Ptas64 mammary tumors. Two weeks
of glucan injections caused significant reduction of cancer
growth (measured as tumor weight) in five cases–Glucan
#300, Immunox 3-6, Glucan Real, Beta Glucan (Germany) and
Reishi. In all other cases, the reduction was either statistically
insignificant or the glucans had no effects at all (Table 5).
In the last part of our study, we evaluated the less known
area of glucan effects-antibody response. We used an immuni-
zation of mice with ovalbumin, where glucans were applied
Glucan IL-2 (pg/ml) IFNγ (pg/ml)
BetaMax 78.3±8.9 25.3±1.9
Oat Beta Glucan 62.2±5.5 41.2±2.5
Bio-Glucan 363.3±14.4 65.2±4.0
Qore Defense 30.1±2.1 30.3±2.4
Immunox 3-6 611.1±83.9 116.1±7.8
Betacan 500 87.9±6.6 27.9±2.1
Glucan Real 442.2±87.5 82.3±2.5
MC-Glucan 459.9±64.4 59.9±2.4
Beta Glucan (Germany) 223.6±11.8 103.6±5.8
Barley Glucan 12.9±1.1 22.3±1.0
Beta Glucan (Vitabase) 230.8±11.3 39.8±1.1
Reishi 288.8±24.4 128.5±4.9
Beta Glucan (Greenpath) 174.4±36.6 84.0±6.2
Hliva ustricna 39.9±3.2 9.9±0.8
Glucan #300 983.9±122.8 201.2±11.5
Con A 1 103.3±291.2 ND
PBS 0 2.1±0.2

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together with two separate intraperitoneal injections of anti-
gen. As positive control, ovalbumin was used with Freund’s
adjuvant. The results summarized in Table 6 showed that six
different glucans significantly increased the specific antibody
response–Qore Defense, Immunox 3-6, Glucan Real, Beta
Glucan (Germany), Reishi and Glucan #300/.
Glucan Tumor weight (mg)
BetaMax 512.7±49.9
Oat Beta Glucan 501.7±45.5
Bio-Glucan 499.1±46.2
Qore Defense 501.3±33.7
Immunox 3-6 348.9±40.2*
Betacan 500 522.3±47.8
Glucan Real 467.7±34.7*
MC-Glucan 511.8±40.1
Beta Glucan (Germany) 476.2±38.8*
Barley Glucan 611.6±53.6
Beta Glucan (Vitabase) 512.8±42.4
Reishi 411.1±32.7*
Beta Glucan (Greenpath) 601.0±52,3
Hliva ustricna 603.5±55.6
Glucan #300 286.1±23.5*
PBS 622.6±52.5
Table 5. Eect of individual glucans on suppression of breast
cancer.
*Signicant reduction of tumor weight at P<0.05
level (individual glucans vs. PBS control). Each
group consisted of at least 9 mice evaluated in three
independent experiments. Results represent mean±SD.
Glucan % of control
BetaMax 102.4±10.8
Oat Beta Glucan 111.6±21.2
Bio-Glucan 125.4±14.8
Qore Defense 133.1±12.5*
Immunox 3-6 296.1±17.2*
Betacan 500 128.3±20.3
Glucan Real 201.3±18.5*
MC-Glucan 129.9±9.9
Beta Glucan (Germany) 207.6±16.8*
Barley Glucan 111.9±11.0
Beta Glucan 130.6±14.8
Reishi 189.8±14.7*
Beta Glucan 126.1±17.2
Hliva ustricna 109.2±9.8
Glucan #300 343.9±43.1*
Ovalbumin+adjuvant 509.9±45.5*
Table 6. Eect of individual glucans on antibody formation.
*Signicant stimulation at P<0.05 level. Results represent
mean±SD, total number of mice was 9/group.
Discussion
Glucans are carbohydrates consisting of linked glucose mole-
cules, which are major structural components of the cell walls
of yeast, fungi and some bacteria. In addition, cereals such as
barley and oat contain glucans as a part of their endosperm.
Glucans are the most studied natural immunomodulators
which, due to the numerous ongoing human clinical trials,
have the strongest chance to become an approved drug even
in Western medicine. However, it is often difficult to compare
the effects of glucan differing in source, isolation techniques,
solubility and other physicochemical characteristics such
as branching or molecular weight. These comparisons are
possible only when individual glucans are compared in one
study using identical experimental design. Despite thousands
of scientific papers, often describing new and new types of
glucan, comprehensive reviews comparing individual biological
or immunological activities are rare. Most of them are focused
more on the relation between biological activities and chemical
properties [
21
,
22
], which does not fully help to answer the
question which glucan is better. Other comparative studies
focused on comparison of glucans extracted from oat, wheat
or barley, but the studied effects were focused on effects on
liver and glucose regulation [15]. However, there are no similar
comparative studies on glucan and immune reactions.
In our previous work, we directly compared 16 different
glucans [16]. From the time of publishing of the original study,
the number of commercially available glucans multiplied in
numerous countries. This inspired us to compare the new
batch of available glucans. In the present paper, we used some
of the same reactions (phagocytosis, superoxide formation,
antibody reaction and IL-2 secretion) that have already been
published. However, the original study showed that some
glucans stimulate some types of immune reactions, and are
without any activity in other areas of immunity. Therefore,
for better evaluation of individual glucans, we added two
more activities - IFN-γ secretion in blood and suppression of
breast cancer growth.
Phagocytosis usually represents the first studied effects of
glucan, as this molecule was originally described as nonspecific
modulator of macrophages. In our study, we employed the
synthetic microbeads based on 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate
polymer, since they represent good experimental material
for these types of the study. These microbeads are known
for their minimal nonspecific adhesion to the cell membrane,
thus limiting the false positivity [20]. Our data showed that
50% of the tested glucans had no stimulative activity even
after the highest dose (800 µg). On the other hand, the best
glucans demonstrated significant activity even at the lowest
dose. The differences in dose required to elicit significant stim-
ulation might be up to 8x. In addition, most glucans did not
reached the activities of the most active glucan even at 32x
higher dose.
Another part of the internalization process is the subse-
quent burst of metabolic activity. Part of it is the production

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of active oxidative species, necessary for killing and destruc-
tion of bacteria (for review see [23]). Glucans were repeatedly
shown to stimulate oxidative burst [24,25]. All mushroom-and
yeast-derived glucans stimulated production of superoxide
anion, where as oat-derived glucans did not. One can only
speculate why the oat glucan had no such activity, even when
they can be as active in cancer inhibition as glucan from other
sources. The most probable explanation might be the low
purity of the oat glucans used in this study or by higher vis-
cosity of these glucans.
Glucans are well known to stimulate production and se-
cretion of various cytokines, with a wide range from IL-1, IL-2,
and IL-6 to TNFα, and IFNγ [26,27]. In fact, there is only one
known glucan without any significant stimulation of cytokine
production [28]. For our purposes, we measured the effects
of glucans on production of IL-2 by splenocytes and level of
IFNγ in peripheral blood. Under normal circumstations, spleno-
cytes do not produce IL-2, so the basal levels are almost zero.
As a result, all glucans showed significant stimulation of Il-2
production, with Glucan #300, Bio-Glucan, Glucan Real, Im-
munox 3-6 and MC-Glucan showing highest effects. However,
only Glucan #300 reached levels comparable with positive
control (Concanavalin A). A similar situation has been found
in case of IFNγ, where the strongest activity was associated
with Glucan #300, Immunox 3-6, Beta Glucan (Germany) and
Reishi. It is clear, therefore, that individual glucans significantly
differ in their abilities to stimulate production and/or secre-
tion of individual cytokines.
Recently, glucans have been shown to stimulate not only
the cellular branch of immune reactions, but also the antibody
formation [29,30], leading to suggestions that glucan can be
part of vaccination. In farmed animals such as fish or chicken,
glucan inclusion in vaccine is already being intensively studied
[
31
,
32
]. Six of our group of glucans significantly stimulated
secretion of specific anti-ovalbumin antibodies, with Glucan
#300 being the most active one.
The last part of our study was devoted to the effects of
glucans on breast cancer growth. We used previously estab-
lished technique using murine cell line [
33
]. Five of our glucans
significantly decreased the growth of breast cancer cells.
Conclusions
Our study clearly demonstrated that there are severe differ-
ences in immunological activities among our selected group of
glucans. Similarly to our previous study [
16
], we tested fifteen
varieties of glucans differing in source and solubility. Based on
previous studies, we included Glucan #300 as the benchmark.
We confirmed that some glucans can have significant effect
on some defense reactions, whereas have little or no activity
on others (e.g., Qore Defence had no activity on tumor sup-
pression, but stimulated antibody secretion). Several glucans
consistently showed higher biological activities, most of all
Immunox 3-6, Glucan Real, Beta-Glucan (Germany) or Reishi,
but in every tested reaction, the Glucan #300 was the most
active sample. The differences between individual glucans
found in this report might explain the sometimes confusing
results published in the literature. It is clear that the immu-
nological and biological effects of individual glucan are not
connected to their source or solubility.
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Authors’ contributions
Publication history
Editor: Joseph L. Evans, P & N Development Ventures, USA.
Received: 05-May-2014 Final Revised: 01-Aug-2014
Accepted: 13-Aug-2014 Published: 23-Aug-2014
Authors’ contributions VV JV
Research concept and design ✓ ✓
Collection and/or assembly of data ✓ ✓
Data analysis and interpretation ✓ ✓
Writing the article ✓ ✓
Critical revision of the article ✓ ✓
Final approval of article ✓ ✓
Statistical analysis ✓ ✓
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Citation:
Vetvicka V and Vetvickova J. Comparison of
immunological eects of commercially available
β-glucans. Appl Sci Rep. 2014; 1:2.
http://dx.doi.org/10.7243/2054-9903-1-2