Ganoderma lucidum causes apoptosis in leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma cells

Müller, Claudia I.; Kumagai, Takashi; O’Kelly, James; Seeram, Navindra P.; Heber, David; Koeffler, H. Phillip

doi:10.1016/j.leukres.2005.12.004

« Previous Next »Leukemia Research
Volume 30, Issue 7 , Pages 841-848, July 2006

Ganoderma lucidum causes apoptosis in leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma cells

Claudia I. Müller
- Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Division of Haematology/Oncology, University Hospital, Freiburg, Germany
- Corresponding author at: Division of Hematology/Oncology, Davis Building 5065, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 8700 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90048, United States. Tel.: +1 310 423 7759; fax: +1 310 423 0225.
Takashi Kumagai
- Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, United States
James O’Kelly
- Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, United States
Navindra P. Seeram
- Center for Human Nutrition, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, United States
David Heber
- Center for Human Nutrition, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, United States
H. Phillip Koeffler
- Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Received 4 May 2005; received in revised form 5 December 2005; accepted 6 December 2005. published online 07 March 2011.

Abstract

Over many centuries, herbal remedies have treated a variety of ailments. This empiric observational approach has produced a number of leads for formulated medicines. Ganoderma lucidum extract was screened for its anti-proliferative activity using a panel of 26 human cancer cell lines. The six most sensitive hematologic cell lines were: HL-60 (ED50 26μg/ml), U937 (63μg/ml), K562 (50μg/ml), Blin-1 (38μg/ml), Nalm-6 (30μg/ml) and RPMI8226 (40μg/ml). Cell cycle analyses revealed a G2/M arrest, most prominently in HL-60 cells. Four hematopoietic cell lines (HL-60, Blin-1, U937, RPMI8226) were examined for apoptosis, which ranged between 21 and 92%. After exposure to G. lucidum extract, HL-60 cells became multinucleated with an increased DNA content. These results indicate that G. lucidum extract has a profound activity against leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma cells and may be a novel adjunctive therapy for the treatment of hematologic malignancies.