Lentinan potentiates immunity and prolongs the survival time of some patients.

For the selection of patients responding well to lentinan, we performed two immunological analysis of patients. Flow cytometric analysis was obtained from peripheral blood lymphocytes; the patients who had greater than 2.5 ratio of [CD11(-) CD8(+)/CD11(+) CD8(+) after treatment]/[CD11(-) CD8(+)/CD11(+) CD8(+) before treatment] at 10 days after lentinan administration showed prolonged survival. The analysis of the- levels of soluble factors such as IL-6, sIL-6R, TNF-alpha, G-CSF, sICAM-1, IAP, and PGE2 and the decreasing levels of G-CSF, IL-6, and PGE2 after lentinan administration had a statistically significant correlation with the ratio of [CD4(+) CD29(+)/CD4(+) CD29(-) after treatment]/[(CD4(+) CD29(+)/CD4(+)CD29(-) before treatment]. The decrease in IL-6, G-CSF, and PGE2 levels after lentinan administration indicated an increase in immunine potential. From these results, we belive that patients with over 2.5-fold increase in [CD11(-) CD8(+)/CD11(+) CD8(+) after treatment]/[CD11(-) CD8(+)/CD11(+) CD8(+) before treatment] and showing a decrease in IL-6, G-CSF, and PGE2 levels after lentinan administration should continue treatment with lentinan for a long period.