Research Index – MG Beta Glucan exclusive to NSC IMMUNITION Products. For more information on broader Beta 1/3,1/6 Glucan research, go to betaglucan.org (non-commercial website).

Research Index Titles with Brief Summaries

Cellular Immunology (2015) 104-114 PMID 26549577; Full Text; K Berner, S.A. duPre, D. Redelman, K.W. Hunter: “Microparticulate B-glucan vaccine conjugates phagocytized by dendritic cells activate both naive CD4 and CD8 T cells in vitro” 

Quote: “Microparticulate Beta Glucan [MG} joined with pathogenic antigens ingested by dendritic immune cells activate both helper T-Cells and Cytotoxic Killer T-cells in vitro.” 

Research in a peer reviewed article in Cellular Immunology reports MG Beta Glucan has been studied extensively for its immunostimulatory properties with those properties providing an interaction between the MG Beta Glucan and dendritic cell receptors for beta glucan that serve as an activating signal promoting anti-fungal immunity.  The report from the U. of Nevada School of Medicine, Dept of Microbiology and Immunology under the direction of Kenneth W. Hunter ScD further reports MG Beta Glucan, “…also has a long history of use as an adjuvant to promote immune responses to tumors and other microorganisms.” 

The results of the study show Microparticulate glucan (MG) acts as an adjuvant, or an immunological agent that enhances the effects of other agents present, to conjugated [joined] vaccine antigens with the result to enhance antigen presentation by dendritic immune cells to CD4 (Helper) and CD8 (Cytotoxic killer) T-cells. Nutritional Scientific Corporation supported the research in part by a grant, but was not involved in the design or interpretation of the experiments.

MG Glucan Research Study 2013

“Oral MG Crosses the Small Intestinal Epithelial Layer and is Phagocytized by Mucosal Dendritic Cells”, MG Glucan Research Findings – U. of Nevada School of Medicine, Reno, 2013, Kenneth W. Hunter Jr, ScD, Research Director, Dept of Microbiology and Immunology:

Quote: ‘For oral MG (microparticulate glucan) to cause changes in the immune system, it must be absorbed across the epithelium of the small intestine. There are those who say that particulate b-glucan cannot be absorbed. Giving a dose equivalent to the MG Beta 1,3/1,6 glucan, 10 mg capsule, it was found that fluorescently labeled MG Microparticulate Glucan crosses the small intestinal epithelium and is significantly phagocytized by mucosal dendritic cells(DC). In the mucosal associated immune system (MALT), the mucosal dendritic cell is the gatekeeper for almost all immune responses. …100% of viable macrophages had phagocytized MG by 4 h[ours]. Note: the particulate MG Beta 1,3/1,6 glucan utilized was provided by Nutritional Scientific Corporation (NSC).

Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology (2008) 1053-1061 PMID 18677470; Berner VK, Sura ME, Hunter KW Jr.:  “Conjugation of protein antigen to microparticulate B-glucan [MG] from Saccharomyces cerevisiae : a new adjuvant for intradermal and oral immunizations.”  Dept of Microbiology and Immunology, U. Of Nevada School of Medicine, Reno, NV USA.

Quote: “Our laboratory has prepared and characterized a novel microparticulate beta-glucan (MG)…we hypothesized that MG could serve as a vaccine adjuvant to enhance specific immune responses. …When used to immunize mice by the intradermal route, these conjugates enhanced the primary IgG antibody response to BSA in a manner comparable to the prototypic complete Freund’s adjuvant....These results suggest that protein antigens can be conjugated to MG via a carabondiimide linkage and that these conjugates provide an adjuvant effect for stimulating the antibody response to the protein antigens.” 

Immunology Letters 98 (2005) 115–122:  “IFN-y primes macrophages for enhanced TNF-a expression in response to stimulatory and non-stimulatory amounts of microparticulate B-glucan,”

Quote: “In the present study, we have tested a new microparticulate form of (1-3)-d-glucan (MG) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae for its ability to induce proinflammatory cytokine secretion in mouse peritoneal macrophages in vitro, and we have examined the effect of IFN-.  MG was rapidly phagocytized by peritoneal macrophages and these MG-treated macrophages upregulated TNF- IL-6,and IL-1 mRNAs and secreted these proinflammatory cytokines. Note: The orange color in macrophage cells shown on the cover of a study presented to the Nevada State Legislature [shown above] is ingested and phagocytized MG Beta Glucan from NSC used in this study.

Immunology Letters 93 (2004) 71-78:  Microparticulate B-glucan upregulates the expression of B7.1, B7.2, B7-H1, but not B7-DC on cultured murine peritoneal macrophages

NIH Grant Application – Abstract Excerpt : Microparticulate Glucan (MG) as a Vaccine Adjuvant

Research Presentation – Stanford University Western Conference on Immunology – 2002: MG Beta Glucan Research Presented at Stanford University at Western Conference on Immunology

Letters in Applied Microbiology (Oct 2002) Vol 35, Issue 4, p 267-71: Preparation of microparticulate B-glucan from Saccharomyces cerevisiae for use in immune potentiation. Hunter KW Jr, Gault RA, Berner MD. PMID 12358685 [Pubmed-indexed for MEDLINE]

Research Summary Release – Mode of Action of B-Glucan Immunopotentiators – January 2001: Activation of Immune Defense Against Infectious Disease