Non-prescriptional use of medicinal herbs among cancer patients is common around the world. The alleged anti-cancer effects of most herbal extracts are mainly based on studies derived from in vitro or in vivo animal experiments. The current information suggests that these herbal extracts exert their biological effect either through cytotoxic or immunomodulatory mechanisms. One of the active com...

Streptococcus mutans glucosyltransferases (GtfB, -C, and -D) and their products formed from sucrose, glucans, play an essential role in the pathogenesis of dental caries. Enzymatically active Gtf is found in whole human saliva (solution), and incorporated into the salivary pellicle that is formed on teeth in vivo (surface). GtfB glucans are predominantly 1,3-linked; however, surface-formed gluc...

β-Glucans are a group of biologically-active fibers or polysaccharides from natural sources with proven medical significance. β-Glucans are known to have antitumor, anti-inflammatory, anti-obesity, anti-allergic, anti-osteoporotic, and immunomodulating activities. β-Glucans are natural bioactive compounds and can be taken orally, as a food supplement, or as part of a daily diet, and are conside...

Glucans are natural product carbohydrates that stimulate immunity. Glucans are internalized by the pattern recognition receptor, Dectin-1. Glucans were thought to be trafficked to phagolysosomes, but this is unproven. We examined the internalization and trafficking of soluble glucans in macrophages. Incubation of macrophages with glucan resulted in internalization of Dectin-1 and glucan. Inhibi...

?-glucans are complex polysaccharides that found in several plants and foods, including mushrooms. display an array of potentially therapeutic properties.

objective: in recent decades, β-glucans have been used as important complementary and alternative medicines for numerous immunocompromised individuals and those with end stage of cancer terminal. the most active form of β-glucans is β(1,3)d-glucan and its  most common source is cell wall of candida albicans. recently it has been introduced as a nano particle design to be used as a carrier for d...

β(1-3)-D-Glucan’s (glucans) are natural products found in yeast, mushrooms, grains and seaweed. β-Glucans represent a group of heterogeneous polysaccharides (both chemically and physicochemically) with strong immunomodulatory capabilities. Natural glucans are found mainly in whole grains, yeast, and mushroom. They represent a complex group of chemically heteregenous polysaccharides with signifi...

Glucans are structurally diverse fungal biopolymers that stimulate innate immunity and are fungal pathogen-associated molecular patterns. Dectin-1 is a C-type lectin-like pattern recognition receptor that binds glucans and induces innate immune responses to fungal pathogens. We examined the effect of glucan structure on recognition and binding by murine recombinant Dectin-1 with a library of na...

SCOPE The major receptor for β(1-3)-glucans on immune cells is considered to be Dectin-1 receptor. Particulate β-glucans induce stronger immune responses than soluble β-glucans by clustering of Dectin-1 receptors. Here, it was hypothesized that activation of other pattern recognition receptors such as Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) can also contribute to enhanced activity of immune cells after exp...

-Glucans belong to a group of biologically active natural compounds called biological response modifiers. These substances represent highly conserved structural components of cell walls in yeast, fungi, grain and seaweed. The effects of -glucan on immune reactions are well established however direct comparisons of the biological activities of several individual glucans are extremely rare. As th...