MGN-3 Research Data

MGN-3

Journal Articles: 

CLINICAL RESEARCH USING MGN-3

MGN-3 is an arabinoxylane from rice bran that has been enzymatically modified by Hyphomyeetes mycelia. It is polysaccharides that contain /3 -1.4 xylopyramose hemicellulose. MGN-3 was offered by Daiwa Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Tokyo, Japan.

 
2. Human Subject and Treatment protocol:

27 cancer patients participated in the study. Their age ranged between 42 - 57 years of age. Participants were given MGN-3 at dose 3 g/day for 6 months. 20 cc blood from each individual were drawn before and after treatment with MGN-3 and NK cell activity examined at 2 weeks, 3 months and 6 months after treatment 

3. Separation of blood Lymphocytes (PBL).

Mononuclear cells from the subjects were separated from the fresh whole blood by ficollhypague density gradient centrifugation (Litton Bionetics, Rockville, MD). The lymphocyte band at the interface was collected and cells pelleted by centrifugation, washed twice in RFIMI- 1 640 and suspended in complete medium (CM) which consists of RPMI-1640, supplemented with 10% (v/v) fetal calf serum, 2mM glutamine, 25 mM Hepes (pH 7.2), 50 units penicillin and 50 p g streptomycin per ml (Grand Island Biologicals, Santa Clara, CA). 

4- NK Cell Activity:

The most common method of assessing NK anti-Cancer activity is to use "CR-release assay in which fixed number of Chromium 11 (CR) -labeled tumor target cells are incubated with varying number of NK effector cells. The percent cell mediated lyrnpholysis is calculated from the following equation: 

analysis =(Exp. Rel. - Sp. Rel / Total Rel. - Sp. Rel) x 100 

Where Exp. Rel test refers to the counts in supernatants from wells containing effector cells. Sp. Rel is the spontaneous release in medium only, and Total Rel. is the maximum counts obtained by lysis with detergent. Usually four serial dilution are made of the NK effector cells and plated in quadruplicate with the turnor targets in niicrotiter plates. In brief, 5x 10, per ml CM, and 0.1 ml pipetted to quadruplicate wells to give and effector: Target cell ratio of 100: 1, 50:1, 25:1 and 12: 1. Microtiter plates were then centrifuged for 3 minutes at 500 RPM and following a 4hours incubation at 37'C, and the supernatant were counted in a gamma counter. The percentage of isotope released was calculated by the formula mentioned above. 

Results of this study demonstrated that: 

1. Majority of cancer patients had low basal NK cell activity (figures I - 6). 

2. Treatment with MGN-3 resulted in significant increase in NK activity as early as 2 weeks post treatment 
(figures I - 6). 

3. Further increase in NK activity was observed at 3 and 6 months. 

4. The mechanism by which MGN-3 augments NK activity through increasing NK cell granularity 

We conclude that MGN-3 is a potent Biological Response Modifier (BRM:) as manifested by highly increase in human NK cell activity at 2 weeks post treatment. 

The induction of NK activity by MGN-3 may represent a new immune-therapeutic approach for the treatment of cancer, which needs to be examined in multiple clinical trials.

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