Ganoderma Magazine: Scientific Evidence on the Effect of Lingzhi on Colon Cancer

Wednesday 23 April 2014

Email askfuiping@gmail.com on how to use Lingzhi/Ganoderma to handle Colon Cancer

This article is put together from a seminar that highlighted the role of Lingzhi / Ganoderma on Colon Cancer, which in turn is taken from Ganoderma Magazine Issue No. 61, 2013. This quarterly publication educates readers on the contribution of Lingzhi / Ganoderma to our health.



The research findings of 2 Professors with regards to how Lingzhi works in relation to inhibiting cancer cells are summarised below.


Story 1 - Research on how Ganoderma inhibit growth of new blood vessels in tumor
  • Subject of research: Nude mice (hairless mice which don't have normal immune system, used in research to determine if Lingzhi boosts up our immune system to fight cancer cells or Lingzhi fights cancer cells directly).
  • Component of ganoderma: Polysaccharide peptides.
  • Result: Reduce proliferation of HUVEC cells (Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells), induce HUVEC cells death and inhibit over expression of VEGF (Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor).

Left: A lot of blood vessels extending from tumor to absorb nutrients.
Middle: Lesser blood vessels.
Right: Hardly any blood vessels extending from tumor can be found.

Conclusion: Ganoderma Polysaccharide can inhibit the growth of blood vessels from cancer tumor.

Story 2 - "USA admitted that they are No. 2 in their studies of Ganoderma"

There are 2 main challenges facing doctors when using chemotherapy or drugs for cancer treatment. The 2 major causes of failure of cancer chemo treatments are:
  • Multi-drug resistance. If a patient has high resistance to drugs, he is less responsive to treatment and will be harder to treat.
  • Low-drug sensitivity. If a patient has low drug sensitivity, he is less responsive to treatment and will take longer time to recover.
A research was done on the effect of Lingzhi Polysaccharide GI-PS on multi-drug resistant leukemia K562 cancer cells. 

Test: Different dosage of Lingzhi Polysaccharide is added to the K562/ADM cells which are treated with a chemo drug called Adriamycin.


Results:
When the dosage of Lingzhi is increased, test results show a higher accumulation of chemo drugs (meaning less drug resistance).
The findings indicate that combining chemo treatment with Lingzhi gives better treatment results.

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In 2008-2009, Dr Xu did an in-depth research on the Effect of Ganoderma on Anti-colon Cancer. His findings are set out below:

Function 1 - Inhibition of cancer cells proliferation and growth in tumor size

1(A) Cancer cells stop growing

This research compares the result of placing the extracts of 2 types of active components of G. Tsugae (Triterpenoids and Polysaccharides) with colon cancer cells (Colo 205) for 72 hours. The findings show:


The results comparing "Cancer cells survival rate" versus "Ganoderma Triterpenoids extract ranging from 0.3 to 3.0 mg/ml" can be seen below:


Conclusion
  • Triterpenoids is more effective (direct effect) in arresting cancerous cell proliferation as compared to Polysaccharides.
  • An optimum (high) concentration of Ganoderma is crucial to successfully fight cancer cells.
  • G. Lucidum has the same inhibitory effect on cancer cell/tumor growth, but G. Formosanum has no such inhibitory effect - meaning not all types of Lingzhi are effective in fighting cancer cells.
1(B) Effect of Ganoderma concentration and length of reaction period on cancer cell proliferation

a) 0.3 and 0.75 mg/ml of G. Tsugae concentration - no effect on cancer cells proliferation.

b) 1.5, 2.25 and 3.0 mg/ml of G. Tsugae concentration - cancer cells proliferation decreased.

c) In the first 6 hours, both the control group and group with G. Tsugae concentration show no effect/change on cancer cell proliferation.


The above result shows the inhibitory effect of Ganoderma on cancer cells proliferation (whereby the cancer cells are still active, but division of cancer cells have stopped). The effect is proportional to concentration level - higher dosage results in higher efficacy

Further, duration of consumption is important - an appropriate length of time is required before results are seen.

1(C) Smaller tumor size lowers risk to patients

The graph below shows the growth in tumor size over 21 days (comparing mice which have been fed with Ganoderma extract and those which have not).


The results establish that when a nude mouse is fed with Ganoderma extract for 21 days - it was found that there were more cancer cells apoptosis, and less cancer cells proliferation. In other words, the mouse that was not fed with Ganoderma has more active cancer cell proliferation.


Function 2 - Inhibition of tumor from forming new blood vessels (anti-angiogenesis)

2(A) How malignant tumor is affected by Ganoderma

When benign cells mutate and form into malignant tumor, it develops new blood vessels to obtain nutrients for its growth and expansion of its territory. This process is called angiogenesis.

As you can see from the photo above, the mouse with malignant tumor without Ganoderma has a very red and big-sized tumor. But the tumor from the mouse which is fed with Ganoderma is dryer in outlook, flatter in size and less red in color.

2(B) Inhibition of VEGF (Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor) production to prevent development of new blood vessels by malignant tumor

VEGF is the main culprit for development of new blood vessels by malignant tumor. Without the stimulation of VEGF, no new blood vessels can be formed. Tumor will not grow bigger or even migrate to other parts of the body (metastasis).

2(C) Inhibition of EGFR (Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor) production to prevent development of new blood vessels by malignant tumor

In a healthy cell, EGFR allows cells to grow and divide. But when there are too many EGFR caused by a mutation, it will increase cancer cells activity and further increase the expression of VEGF.


The diagram shows that Ganoderma can effectively inhibit EGFR, reduce the division activity between P13K, AKT, mTOR etc (in cancer cells) and EGFR, and thus further reduce the expression of VEGF.

This treatment mechanism exhibited by Ganoderma performs the same function as the treatment mechanism used by drugs for chemotherapy. For instance, Iressa, Tarceva and Erbitux (drugs used for non small cell lung cancer treatment) are EGFR inhibitors which interrupt signaling through the EGFR in target cells, and therefore inhibit lung cancer cell proliferation and migration.

In other words, Ganoderma works the same way as chemo drugs, but without the side effects.


Function 3 - Increase treatment efficacy by combining intake of Ganoderma with chemotherapy drugs


The second diagram shows that after taking Ganoderma for 21 days (100 mg/kg per day), malignant tumor growth is inhibited and development of new blood vessels by malignant tumor is also inhibited - less purplish blue section and less VEGF production.

The test also demonstrates that combining 0.3 mg/ml of Ganoderma with Cisplatinum (1/3 of standard dosage) and Taxol (1% of standard dosage) effectively inhibits cancer cell proliferation and reduces more than 50% of the number of cancer cells.

Benefits to cancer patients for taking Ganoderma together with chemo drugs: 
  • reduce intake of chemo drugs 
  • reduce side effects of chemo drugs 
  • reduce treatment cost incurred.
Is it Safe to Consume Ganoderma?

The answer is Yes.
Besides increasing treatment efficacy, Ganoderma does not have any side effects on our brain, heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, stomach, adrenal glands and gastrointestinal system. Ganoderma also does not cause blood clots, inflammation, bleeding, abnormal tissue growth or abnormal reading of blood counts. These are potential side effects for cancer patients who undergo chemo treatment without combining with Ganoderma.

Testimonies

The Ganoderma Bulletin has also put together various testimonies on the effect of Lingzhi on colon cancer, including dosage consumed, vertigo reaction and recovery condition, as summarised below.





Please email me at askfuiping@gmail.com to buy Lingzhi to manage Colon Cancer. Click here to refer to Shuang Hor company website for Product Description and Price.