Information provided by Immudyne, Inc.,
P.O. Box 51507, Palo Alto, CA

A new nutritional product called beta-1,3-glucan is one of the most exciting things happening today in the field of nutritional supplements.

Obtained from purified yeast, beta-1,3-glucan has a long scientific history and a reference list including literally hundreds of papers. Research originated in the 1940’s when Pillemer and his colleagues described a crude yeast cell wall preparation, Zymosan. They reported that this material was able to stimulate nonspecific immunity¹. It was unknown at that time which element of this composition, containing a relatively crude mixture of proteins, lipids and polysaccharides, actually activated the immune response.

The answer came later in the 60’s, when Dr. Nicholas DiLuzio at Tulane University experimented with beta-1,3-glucan² . In the late 1980’s Dr. Joyce Czop, at Harvard University, described the mode of action of this material in stimulating the immune system: there is a specific receptor for beta-1,3-glucan on the surface of certain cells, called macrophages³ that when activated, stimulate a cascade of events turning the body into “an arsenal of defense”.

Macrophages play an essential and pivotal role in the initiation and maintenance of the immune response. From an evolutionary point of view, the macrophage is the oldest and most consistently preserved immunologically competent cell known. Not only humans and higher animals, but primitive invertebrates such as Hydra, which have no other immunological effector cells, have macrophages. In order to function immunologically, the macrophages must pass through a state of activation which involves certain morphological changes but also, most importantly, a whole sequence of metabolic changes which result in the production of series of so-called cytokines which act as internal regulators of the immune system. Activation can be initiated by a variety of different stimuli, such as endotoxin, bacteria, viruses or chemicals which can be too toxic or pathogenic to be useful. Beta-1,3-glucan is not only orally effective, completely non-toxic and safe, but is one of the most potent stimulators of the immune response.

Considerable attention has been recently given to Aloe Vera extract, which was found to carry one of the macrophage activating polysaccharides, mannan or polymannose. While mannan has some macrophage activating potential, it is very slight compared to that of glucan⁴. There are several different glucans with different levels of activity, the most active of which is beta-1,3-glucan from the cell wall of yeast. A three dimensional model of this molecule shows it to be a helix, and the research at Harvard has shown that there exist, on the macrophage cell membrane, receptors for a small number of residues, approximately seven⁵ . The fact that such a small number of glucose units can activate this receptor is very remarkable. What is more remarkable still, is that there should be a specific receptor for this sort of polysaccharide chain on the surface of the most ancient sugar cell in the immune cascade. There is now evidence to show that glucan is, from an evolutionary point of view, the most widely and most commonly observed macrophage activator in nature⁶. The same enhancing mechanisms have been found in all branches of the animal, bird, fish and plant kingdoms^7,8.

Full article here.