Hailed in ancient Eastern medicine as the “mushroom of immortality” and the “medicine of kings,” you’d expect reishi to offer you some pretty astounding health benefits, right? Your assumptions are correct. This prized fungus may be able to boost your immune system, fight cancer, ward off heart disease, calm your nerves and relieve both allergies and inflammation.

“Reishi indeed sounds like a cure-all,” writes Rebecca Wood in her book “New Whole Foods Encyclopedia.” She goes on to explain reishi’s wide range of uses: “An immunostimulant, it is helpful for people with AIDS, leaky-gut syndrome, Epstein-Barr, chronic bronchitis and other infectious diseases. It is used as an aid to sleep, as a diuretic, as a laxative and to lower cholesterol.” It almost seems too good to be true.

How can one fungus help the human body in so many ways? Traditional Eastern medical science explains reishi’s wide range of medicinal applications better, perhaps, than mainstream medicine ever could. According to Eastern thought, the body needs to defend itself against threats to its “equilibrium.” These threats can be physical, such as viruses and bacteria that cause infection; emotional, such as stressors that cause anxiety; or energetic, in that they reduce alertness. Whatever the threat, reishi helps the body maintain its defense against these threats to its equilibrium, helping the body to maintain balance. In this sense, diseases like heart disease and cancer mean that the body is out of balance, which is why an equilibrium-enhancing remedy such as reishi can help so many diverse ailments.

Skeptics can doubt the previous explanation as Taoist “mumbo jumbo,” but laboratory research proves many of reishi’s medicinal applications. As Dr. Andrew Weil writes, reishi “has been the subject of a surprising amount of scientific research in Asia and the West.” Research shows that the polysaccharide beta-1,3-D-glucan in reishi boosts the immune system by raising the amount of macrophages T-cells, which has major implications for people suffering from AIDS and other immune system disorders.

This immune-boosting action also works wonders in the prevention and treatment of cancer, as the T-cells are then able to fight cancer cells more effectively. However, reishi may help the body defeat cancer in not just one, but four ways. In addition to boosting the immune system, the glucan in reishi helps immune cells bind to tumor cells. Many experts believe that it also actually reduces the number of cancerous cells, making it easier for T-cells and macrophages to rid the body of them. Another substance in reishi, called canthaxanthin, slows down the growth of tumors, according to “Prescription for Dietary Wellness” author Phyllis A. Balch and other experts. As a result of these amazing anti-cancer abilities, laboratory research and traditional medicinal usage of reishi to fight cancer is so positive that the Japanese government officially recognizes it as a cancer treatment.

Besides cancer, reishi can help and treat another of America’s top killers: cardiovascular disease. The protection reishi offers against heart disease and stroke is truly remarkable because it helps prevent so many different risk factors, due to its high content of heart-saving substances like sterols, ganoderic acids, coumarin, mannitol and polysaccharides. Experts believe that the ganoderic acids in particular lower triglyceride levels, remove excess cholesterol from the blood, lower blood pressure, reduce platelet stickiness and even help correct arrhythmia. In fact, for 54 people with hypertension unresponsive to medication, taking reishi extract three times a day for four weeks was enough to significantly lower blood pressure, according to a study reported by Burton Goldberg in “Heart Disease.” Just imagine how the incidence of cardiovascular disease could be reduced if using reishi really caught on in the Western hemisphere.

While you protect your body against infectious disease, cancer and heart disease, your use of reishi can also help relieve your everyday discomforts. Do you have allergies? Japanese researchers discovered that the lanostan in reishi acts as a natural antihistamine. Do you suffer from muscle aches or arthritis? Dr. William B. Stavinhoa of the University of Texas Health Science Center found that reishi is as powerful as five milligrams of hydrocortisone, but with minimal side effects. What about anxiety or insomnia? According to “Mind Boosters” by Dr. Ray Sahelia, the reishi mushroom can calm the mind, as well as improve memory, concentration and focus. With all these benefits, reishi truly is the “medicine of kings.”

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Leucozepin was formulated to treat cancer patients & other immune diseases. Contains natural herbs to support white blood cells & T-cells.

Restores energy

ScienceDaily — Recent studies have shown that HIV causes a vigorous and prolonged immune response that eventually leads to the exhaustion of key immune system cells–CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells–that target HIV. These tired cells become less and less able to fight the virus, and the cells’ fatigue contributes to the inability of an HIV-infected person’s immune system to clear the virus from the body.

Now, researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, have shown that a similar type of exhaustion strikes another important brigade of immune system soldiers: the B cells that make virus-fighting proteins called antibodies.

In most HIV-infected individuals not receiving antiretroviral therapy, the virus replicates continuously, causing systemic disturbances that include changes in certain subsets of B cells that circulate in the blood. One of these subsets, known as “tissue-like memory B cells,” is abundant in HIV-infected individuals who do not control their viral burden. These particular cells show signs of premature exhaustion and a reduced ability to make the high-quality antibodies needed to fight HIV.

As with studies of exhausted CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, these new findings related to exhausted B cells help illuminate the complex immune system damage caused by HIV, and the challenges to rebuilding or bolstering an HIV-infected person’s immune system.

NIAID’s HIV vaccine research program aims to increase the understanding of B cells to help inform the development of an effective vaccine, and this study contributes to this effort. The authors note that the design of a therapeutic vaccine designed to slow HIV disease progression will need to overcome or circumvent the challenge posed by the inability of certain exhausted B cells to make high-quality antibodies.

Journal reference:

1. S Moir et al. Evidence for HIV-associated B cell exhaustion in a dysfunctional memory B cell compartment in HIV-infected viremic individuals. Journal of Experimental Medicine, (in press) DOI: 10.1084/jem.20072683

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Leucozepin bestseller
Strengthen Immune System: contains Astragalus

Secondary Benefits

• Regulates blood cell counts
• Boosts energy
• Activates NK cells
• Stimulates macrophages
• Relieves fatigue

____________________________________________________

Chemical From Medicinal Plants May Be Used To Fight HIV

ScienceDaily — Like other kinds of cells, immune cells lose the ability to divide as they age because a part of their chromosomes known as a telomere becomes progressively shorter with cell division. As a result, the cell changes in many ways, and its disease fighting ability is compromised.But a new UCLA AIDS Institute study has found that a chemical from the Astragalus root, frequently used in Chinese herbal therapy, can prevent or slow this progressive telomere shortening, which could make it a key weapon in the fight against HIV.

“This has the potential to be either added to or possibly even replace the HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy), which is not tolerated well by some patients and is also costly,” said study co-author Rita Effros, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and member of the UCLA AIDS Institute.

A telomere is a region at the end of every cell chromosome that contains repeated DNA sequences but no genes; telomeres act to protect the ends of the chromosomes and prevent them from fusing together — rather like the plastic tips that keep shoelaces from unraveling. Each time a cell divides, the telomeres get shorter, eventually causing the cell to reach a stage called replicative senescence, when it can no longer divide. This seems to indicate that the cell has reached an end stage, but, in fact, the cell has changed into one with new genetic and functional characteristics.

A great deal of cell division must take place within the immune system for the system to function properly. For example, the so-called “killer” CD8 T-cells that help fight infection have unique receptors for particular antigens. When a virus enters the body, the killer T-cells whose receptors recognize that virus create, through division, versions of themselves that fight the invader.

Generally, the telomeres in cells are sufficiently long that they can divide many times without a problem. Moreover, when fighting infections, T-cells can turn on an enzyme called telomerase, which can prevent the telomeres from shortening.

“The problem is that when we’re dealing with a virus that can’t be totally eliminated from the body, such as HIV, the T-cells fighting that virus can’t keep their telomerase turned on forever,” Effros said. “They turn off, and telomeres get shorter and they enter this stage of replicative senescence.”

Previous studies have shown that injecting the telomerase gene into T-cells can keep the telomeres from shortening, enabling them to maintain their HIV-fighting function for much longer. This gene-therapy approach, however, is not a practical way to treat the millions of people living with HIV.

For the present study, rather than utilizing gene therapy, the researchers used a chemical called TAT2, which was originally identified from plants used in traditional Chinese therapy and which enhances telomerase activity in other cell types.

They tested TAT2 in several ways. First, they exposed the CD8 T-cells from HIV-infected persons to TAT2 to see if the chemical not only slowed the shortening of the telomeres but improved the cells’ production of soluble factors called chemokines and cytokines, which had been previously shown to inhibit HIV replication. It did.

They then took blood samples from HIV-infected individuals and separated out the CD8 T-cells and the CD4 T-cells — those infected with HIV. They treated the CD8 T-cells with TAT2 and combined them with the CD4 T-cells in the dish-and found that the treated CD8 cells inhibited production of HIV by the CD4 cells.

“The ability to enhance telomerase activity and antiviral functions of CD8 T-lymphocytes suggests that this strategy could be useful in treating HIV disease, as well as immunodeficiency and increased susceptibility to other viral infections associated with chronic diseases or aging,” the researchers write.

In addition to Effros, researchers were Steven Russell Fauce, Beth D. Jamieson, Ronald T. Mitsuyasu, Stan T. Parish, Christina M. Ramirez Kitchen, and Otto O. Yang, all of UCLA, and Allison C. Chin and Calvin B. Harley of the Geron Corp.

The Geron Corp., TA Therapeutics Ltd., the National Institutes of Health and the Frank Jernigan Foundation funded this study.

Journal reference:

1. . Telomerase-Based Pharmacologic Enhancement of Antiviral Function of Human CD8+ T Lymphocytes. Journal of Immunology, Nov. 15, 2008 [link]

Adapted from materials provided by University of California – Los Angeles.

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By Dr. Donna Schwontkowski

Medical philosophy is vastly different than all natural herbal therapy. Medical doctors are aggressive in their attack on cancer and try to burn the cancer out, cut it out, or kill it with potent drugs. Herbal philosophy is based on the support of the body’s natural defenses and working with the body until any illness is gone. Both philosophies have their triumphs and challenges. In many people’s minds, the big question is where do all natural Chinese herbs fit into the grand scheme of cancer treatment?

Why Not Mix Both Philosophies?

Many alternative health practitioners and even medical physicians now have decided that both philosophies can be incorporated together and result in a more successful outcome for patients with cancer, especially those on chemotherapy treatment. In the last few decades, clinical research studies have proven that it is indeed possible to  combine medical therapy with all natural Chinese herbs.

For example, synthetic IL-2 is often used as a treatment modality by the medical profession for patients with colorectal cancer, lymphoma, melanoma, and kidney cancer. The chemotherapy drug is extremely toxic and can cause serious side effects. The herb Astragalus was given to patients with colorectal cancer. When researchers and doctors combined their efforts and administered the all natural Chinese herb Astragalus to patients receiving synthetic IL-2, the white blood cells of patients became faster and more efficient. The drug’s effectiveness was enhanced, proving that a chemotherapy natural solution mixture could work, that all natural Chinese herbs do indeed have a place in chemotherapy treatment.

Studies show that Astragalus helps in cancer cases by increasing killer cells. Astragalus also helps offset immune damage from numerous drugs. Astragalus protects the immune system, increases the metabolic rate and increases energy levels. All these functions can only aid a chemotherapy patient.

Researchers frequently comment on the use of Astragalus to alleviate the toxic side effects of chemotherapeutic drugs. In the peer-reviewed journal, Carcinogenesis, June of 2007, researchers M.M. Tin et al reported that Astragalus inhibited cell growth and promoted the death of cancer cells. They also found that Astragalus reduced the size of tumors without causing death and without causing a drop in body weight in studies on mice. The researchers concluded that Astragalus could be an effective chemotherapeutic agent in colon cancer treatment and used as an adjuvant in combination with other orthodox chemotherapeutic drugs to reduce the side effects of chemotherapy compounds.

In another study, patients with small cell lung cancer used traditional chemotherapeutic drugs like vincristine, cyclophosphamide and carmustine and researchers added the all natural Chinese herbs ginseng and Astragalus to the therapy. The survival rate increased to as long as 17 years in some of the patients! Again, this proved that a chemotherapy natural solution mixture of treatment could work.

Glycyrrhiza glabra, of licorice, is also another Chinese herb that activates immune cells in human subjects. The Journal of Phytotherapy Research reported on a study in August 2006 where immune cell function was enhanced within 24 hours of ingesting licorice and also Astragalus and Echinacea. CD4 and CD8 T cell counts increased and continued for at least seven days. When the all natural Chinese herbs licorice and Astragalus along with Echinacea were used together, another immune cell function was improved, that of CD69 expression.

There are plenty of other studies that show that all natural Chinese herbs can be used as a chemotherapy natural solution. What we are seeing is that using the chemotherapy drugs by themselves can almost assure one of toxic side effects to come, but using them with the all natural Chinese herbs, the chemotherapy treatment can be endured better and with a higher quality of life.

For more info on herbs that help chemotherapy fatigue and other side effects, see http://www.immuneenhance.com

For more info on articles on health, see http://www.drdonna.info

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._Donna_Schwontkowski http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Place-of-All-Natural-Chinese-Herbs-in-Cancer-Treatment&id=1070074

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Leucozepin bestseller
Strengthen Immune System: contains Astragalus

Secondary Benefits

• Regulates blood cell counts
• Boosts energy
• Activates NK cells
• Stimulates macrophages
• Relieves fatigue

The cells that are usually affected include bone marrow blood cells, cells of hair follicles, cells lining the digestive tract and cells lining the reproductive tract. Looking at this list of the cells that are usually destroyed, one can start to recognize some the ailments that cause so much suffering to people going through chemotherapy treatment. Now you understand exactly why people end up losing their hair for instance. This is as a result of the cells of hair follicles being damaged by chemotherapy.

Bone marrow cells being affected during cancer treatment is one of the most common causes of many of the side effects of chemotherapy. Bone marrow is a thick liquid in the inner part of some bones which usually produces white blood cells. This damage leads to low white blood cell counts or what doctors call neutrophil. The kind of signs and symptoms that follow include fever, sore throat, coughs, shortness of breath, nasal congestion, burning during urination, shaking chills as well as redness, swelling, pain, and warmth at the site of an injury amongst other symptoms.

Usually because of the high risk of infections, doctors may need to delay further chemotherapy doses. These are some of the factors that cause so much suffering amongst cancer patients.

Fortunately new research and clinical trials offers some hope in greatly alleviating problems related to cancer and cancer treatment. For example natural herbal medicines have been used for hundreds of years and now regularly complement mainstream care in managing symptoms, boosting the immune system and greatly enhancing the quality of life. Actually many cancer patients going through chemotherapy have reported impressive results from natural herbal medicine in addressing the side effects of chemotherapy.

Get more information on the Side Effects Of Chemotherapy

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ScienceDaily (Nov. 17, 2008) — Like other kinds of cells, immune cells lose the ability to divide as they age because a part of their chromosomes known as a telomere becomes progressively shorter with cell division. As a result, the cell changes in many ways, and its disease fighting ability is compromised.

But a new UCLA AIDS Institute study has found that a chemical from the Astragalus root, frequently used in Chinese herbal therapy, can prevent or slow this progressive telomere shortening, which could make it a key weapon in the fight against HIV.

“This has the potential to be either added to or possibly even replace the HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy), which is not tolerated well by some patients and is also costly,” said study co-author Rita Effros, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and member of the UCLA AIDS Institute. A telomere is a region at the end of every cell chromosome that contains repeated DNA sequences but no genes; telomeres act to protect the ends of the chromosomes and prevent them from fusing together — rather like the plastic tips that keep shoelaces from unraveling. Each time a cell divides, the telomeres get shorter, eventually causing the cell to reach a stage called replicative senescence, when it can no longer divide. This seems to indicate that the cell has reached an end stage, but, in fact, the cell has changed into one with new genetic and functional characteristics.

A great deal of cell division must take place within the immune system for the system to function properly. For example, the so-called “killer” CD8 T-cells that help fight infection have unique receptors for particular antigens. When a virus enters the body, the killer T-cells whose receptors recognize that virus create, through division, versions of themselves that fight the invader.

Generally, the telomeres in cells are sufficiently long that they can divide many times without a problem. Moreover, when fighting infections, T-cells can turn on an enzyme called telomerase, which can prevent the telomeres from shortening.

“The problem is that when we’re dealing with a virus that can’t be totally eliminated from the body, such as HIV, the T-cells fighting that virus can’t keep their telomerase turned on forever,” Effros said. “They turn off, and telomeres get shorter and they enter this stage of replicative senescence.”

Previous studies have shown that injecting the telomerase gene into T-cells can keep the telomeres from shortening, enabling them to maintain their HIV-fighting function for much longer. This gene-therapy approach, however, is not a practical way to treat the millions of people living with HIV.

For the present study, rather than utilizing gene therapy, the researchers used a chemical called TAT2, which was originally identified from plants used in traditional Chinese therapy and which enhances telomerase activity in other cell types.

They tested TAT2 in several ways. First, they exposed the CD8 T-cells from HIV-infected persons to TAT2 to see if the chemical not only slowed the shortening of the telomeres but improved the cells’ production of soluble factors called chemokines and cytokines, which had been previously shown to inhibit HIV replication. It did.

They then took blood samples from HIV-infected individuals and separated out the CD8 T-cells and the CD4 T-cells — those infected with HIV. They treated the CD8 T-cells with TAT2 and combined them with the CD4 T-cells in the dish-and found that the treated CD8 cells inhibited production of HIV by the CD4 cells.

“The ability to enhance telomerase activity and antiviral functions of CD8 T-lymphocytes suggests that this strategy could be useful in treating HIV disease, as well as immunodeficiency and increased susceptibility to other viral infections associated with chronic diseases or aging,” the researchers write.

In addition to Effros, researchers were Steven Russell Fauce, Beth D. Jamieson, Ronald T. Mitsuyasu, Stan T. Parish, Christina M. Ramirez Kitchen, and Otto O. Yang, all of UCLA, and Allison C. Chin and Calvin B. Harley of the Geron Corp.

The Geron Corp., TA Therapeutics Ltd., the National Institutes of Health and the Frank Jernigan Foundation funded this study.

1. . Telomerase-Based Pharmacologic Enhancement of Antiviral Function of Human CD8+ T Lymphocytes. Journal of Immunology, Nov. 15, 2008 [link]

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ScienceDaily (May 9, 2008) — Infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which leads to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), is an epidemic of global concern. According to the most recent estimates, released in November 2007, by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 33.2 million worldwide are living with HIV infection currently. Although the rates of infection appear to be decreasing, there are obviously immense implications for achieving improvements in HIV/AIDS treatment.

The functioning of natural killer (NK) cells, which are a major element of the innate immunity system and are involved in the body’s first line of defense against infections such as HIV, is decreased in both HIV and depression. A group of researchers who have previously found that stress and depression impair NK cell function and accelerate the course of HIV/AIDS are now publishing a new report in Biological Psychiatry.

In this study, they recruited both depressed and non-depressed HIV-infected women and studied the ex vivo effects of three drugs, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), a substance P antagonist, and a glucocorticoid antagonist, on their NK cell activity. These drugs were selected because, as the authors state, each “affect[s] underlying regulatory systems that have been extensively investigated in both stress and depression research as well as immune and viral research.”

The scientists found that the SSRI citalopram, and the substance P antagonist CP 96,345, but not the glucocorticoid receptor antagonist RU486, increased NK cell activity. According to Dr. Dwight Evans, corresponding author of the article: “The present findings provide evidence that natural killer cell function in HIV infection may be enhanced by selective serotonin reuptake inhibition and also by substance P antagonism in both depressed and non-depressed individuals.”

John H. Krystal, M.D., Editor of Biological Psychiatry and affiliated with both Yale University School of Medicine and the VA Connecticut Healthcare System, comments: “There has been growing evidence that the compromise of immune function associated with depression influences the outcomes of infectious diseases and cancer. Antidepressant treatments are beginning to be studied for their potential positive effects on immune function.”

He adds that “the paper by Evans et al. suggests that antidepressant treatment may have positive effects on natural killer cell activity in cells isolated from individuals infected with HIV with and without depression. This type of bridge between the brain and the rest of the body deserves further attention.” Dr. Evans agrees, noting that “these findings begin to pave the way towards initiating clinical studies addressing the potential role of serotonergic agents and substance P antagonists in improving natural killer cell innate immunity, possibly delaying HIV disease progression and extending survival with HIV infection.”

1. Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor and Substance P Antagonist Enhancement of Natural Killer Cell Innate Immunity in Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. Dwight L. Evans, Kevin G. Lynch, Tami Benton, Benoit Dubé, David R. Gettes, Nancy B. Tustin, Jian Ping Lai, David Metzger and Steven D. Douglas. Drs. Evans, Lynch, Benton, Dubé, and Metzger and Mr. Gettes are affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry, with Dr. Evans also with the Departments of Medicine and Neuroscience, and Dr. Douglas is with the Department of Pediatrics, all at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ms. Tustin and Drs. Lai and Douglas are with the Division of Allergy and Immunology, Joseph J. Stokes Research Institute of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Biological Psychiatry, Volume 63, Issue 9 (May 1, 2008).

Adapted from materials provided by Elsevier, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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