title: Bioactive polysaccharides from traditional Chinese medicine herbs as anticancer adjuvants.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To review the nature, extent, bioactivities, and clinical application of polysaccharides in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) especially as adjuvants in cancer treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Literature review.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Many fungal- and plant-derived bioactive polysaccharides with a broad range of immunomodulatory activities are found in TCM. Some such polysaccharides have been developed into drugs and show clinical efficacy in controlled trials while the majority of such compounds remain as nutraceuticals with only preliminary research. Such polysaccharides are generally nontoxic and possess other bioactivities such as inducing differentiation, stimulating hematopoiesis, antimetastasis, and antiangiogenesis, which make them ideal adjuvants in modern cancer therapy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Bioactive polysaccharides occur extensively in TCM herbs and are the basis of potentially useful application of TCM as an adjuvant in cancer therapies.
authors.affiliation: Institute of East-West Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA. rchang@eastwestmed.org
authors.forename: Raymond
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D011134:Polysaccharides