Ganoderma lucidum (Reishi mushroom) for cancer treatment

• Published in: Cochrane database of systematic reviews 2016-04, Vol.4 (4), p.CD007731
• Main Authors: Jin, Xingzhong, Ruiz Beguerie, Julieta, Sze, Daniel Man-Yeun, Chan, Godfrey C F
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 'ORPHAN' TOPICS CURRENTLY BEING ADDRESSED; Antineoplastic Agents - immunology; Antineoplastic Agents - therapeutic use; Cancer; Complementary & alternative medicine; Humans; Immunity, Cellular - immunology; Neoplasms - drug therapy; Neoplasms - immunology; Neoplasms - therapy; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Reishi - chemistry
• ISSN: 1469-493X
• DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD007731.pub3

Ganoderma lucidum is a natural medicine that is widely used and recommended by Asian physicians and naturopaths for its supporting effects on immune system. Laboratory research and a handful of preclinical trials have suggested that G. lucidum carries promising anticancer and immunomodulatory properties. The popularity of taking G. lucidum as an alternative medicine has been increasing in cancer patients. However, there is no systematic review that has been conducted to evaluate the actual benefits of G. lucidum in cancer treatment. To evaluate the clinical effects of G. lucidum on long-term survival, tumour response, host immune functions and quality of life in cancer patients, as well as adverse events associated with its use. We searched an extensive set of databases including the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, EMBASE, NIH, AMED, CBM, CNKI, CMCC and VIP Information/Chinese Scientific Journals Database was searched for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in October 2011. Other strategies used were scanning the references of articles retrieved, handsearching of the International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms and contact with herbal medicine experts and manufacturers of G. lucidum. For this update we updated the searches in February 2016. To be eligible for being included in this review, studies had to be RCTs comparing the efficacy of G. lucidum medications to active or placebo control in patients with cancer that had been diagnosed by pathology. All types and stages of cancer were eligible for inclusion. Trials were not restricted on the basis of language. Five RCTs met the inclusion criteria and were included in this review. Two independent review authors assessed the methodological quality of individual trials. Common primary outcomes were tumour response evaluated according to the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria, immune function parameters such as natural killer (NK)-cell activity and T-lymphocyte co-receptor subsets, and quality of life measured by the Karnofsky scale score. No trial had recorded long-term survival rates. Associated adverse events were reported in one study. A meta-analysis was performed to pool available data from the primary trials. Results were gauged using relative risks (RR) and standard mean differences (SMD) for dichotomous and continuous data respectively, with a 95% confidence interval (CI). The methodological quality of primary studies was generally unsatisfying and the results