Abstract

Taxol has anti-tumor properties, polysaccharide peptide (PSP), an active substance of Yunzhi, is an effective immunopotentiator, which is used to supplement the chemotherapy and radiotherapy of cancers patients. The antitumor activity of polysaccharopeptides has been documented. In this study, the in vitro effect of PSP upon the metabolic rate of breast solid tumors was observed and this effect was compared with taxol, which is a well-known chemotherapeutic drug. j117 patients’ tissues were treated with 4, 2 and 1 mg/ml of PSP and 4.27 µg/ml of taxol for 24 h.  ATP bioluminescence assay was used to measure the in vitro metabolic rate of the breast cancer tissues and SPSS was used for statistical analysis. The estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), HER-2, tumor grading and the age of patients were all analysed in the study. Taxol was significantly effective on tumors in younger aged, low tumor grade; ER and PR negative group’s subjects. PSP demonstrated similar results and also suppresses the activity of breast solid tumor. ATP bioluminescence assay was successfully performed in determining tumor metabolic rate in a timely fashion such that chemotherapeutic treatment could be guided by the results.

Key words: Polysaccharide peptide, taxol, ATP bioluminescence, estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor.