Role of Heteropolysaccharides in Chemoprevention and Carcinogenesis
Abstract:
Our aging, heredity, lifestyle, race, regular consumption of over processed foods grown on farmland soil de pleted of minerals and soil microorganisms rich in nitrate fertilizers and pesticides, irradiated food, industrial toxins (fluoridated drinking water), smoking, viral infections, etc, are directly connected to DNA destabiliza tion by breakage of hydrogen bonds between the base pairs of DNA causing abnormal accelerated replication of open strands to the development and expression of many negative and even fatal processes, such as carcino genesis. The consequence of so much toxicity is humankind’s real and dramatic increase in rates of cancer, autoimmune diseases, toxic metal syndrome and much more. During the last two decades there has been an increasing recognition of the importance of the human immune system for maintaining good health. Carcinogenesis is process which normally takes several years during which progressive genetic changes occur leading to malignant transformation. With recent advances in tech nology, biotechnology, information technology a new class of pharmacologically active water soluble hetero polysaccharide immunomodulators emerged from selected medicinal mushrooms found in the fruiting bodies, cultured mycelia, and culture broth. With the help of advanced techniques in biotechnology and information technology, scientists have been able to extract and purify these pharmacologically active compounds, eluci date their chemical structures, and study their potential therapeutic effects. Very few of immunologically active polysaccharides from medicinal mushrooms are pure (1-3)- (1-6)- beta-D-glucans, most are heteroglucans containing other sugar molecules, such as galactose, xylose or mannose.
