Yeast β-1,3-glucan and Its Use Against Anthrax Infection and in the Treatment of Cancer

In this edition of JANA, the paper by Vetvicka et al. makes an important contribution to our scientific under-standing of the nutraceutical stimulation of the immune sys-tem in the treatment of both infectious disease and cancer. While abundant evidence demonstrates the ability of β1,3-glucans to activate macrophages and neutrophils when given intravenously or intraperitoneally, there has been lit-tle information concerning its efficiency when given orally. In their study, Vetvicka et al. used oral β1,3-glucan (ImucellTM WGP Beta Glucan) from a yeast source in mice infected with Bacillus anthracis. With the high incidence of complications associated with anthrax vaccines, an alterna-tive approach is badly needed in this era of bioterrorism threat. Dr. Ken Alibek, a top-ranking scientist at the Russian bioweapons labs, stated that because of the number of pos-sible bioweapon agents available, something other than mass inoculations would be needed. He suggested non-spe-cific immune stimulation. The most effective form of non-specific immune stimulation is macrophage activation. The anthrax bacillus secretes two toxins, edema toxin and lethal toxin. Edema toxin stimulates an outpouring of fluid, especially into the lungs. Lethal toxin, inhibits neu-trophil phagocytosis and triggers destructive intracellular reactions that destroy macrophage cells. Of primary interest is the fact that anthrax lethal toxin inhibits the macrophages from releasing their immune messengers, primarily IL-1, IL-2, IFN-gamma, and TNF-alpha. Of particular importance in combating infection is the cytokine TNF-alpha. Vetvicka et al. demonstrated that yeast-derived β1,3-glucan given orally stimulates TNF-alph