[Intratumoral administration of biological preparations--recommendation for integrative medicine]

The antitumor effect of biological preparations was examined in a double grafted tumor system. PSK is a hot water extract of cultured mycelia from Coliolus versicolor. Its protein content is about 38% and the main glycoside portion of PSK is beta-D-glucan. Lentinan is purified from fruit bodies of Lentinus edodes and is a beta-1, 3-glucan. Cepharanthin is an extract from the root of Stephania cepharantha HAYATA, consisting of 4 kinds of biscoclaurine alkaloids. TAHEEBO tea is a hot water extract of Tabebuia avellanedae, the active ingredient of which is naphthoquinones. If protein-bound polysaccharides were to be used in Western medicine, these polysaccharides would be purified, but purified beta-glucan loses its beneficial effects. Similarly, when raw Cepharanthin is purified to isolate its active ingredient (an alkaloid cepharanthine), its anti-tumor effect is weakened. Clear IAP induction was observed in serum of mice treated with extracts of Coliolus versicolor and Stephania cepharantha. However, IAP induction was not observed in the serum of mice treated with purified beta-glucan or purified alkaloid. This suggests that macrophages may recognize extracts but not purified substances. In Western medicine, purified substances with known chemical structures are recognized as drugs, but overdoses of these drugs are toxic to the body, thus adverse reactions are always an issue. In Chinese medicine, mixtures containing several crude drugs are recognized as drugs, whose active ingredients are not identified. In integrative medicine, drugs are extracts that contain active ingredients with known structures and functions. We propose a Japanese version of integrative medicine which is neither Western nor Chinese.