The efficacy of Polyporus Umbellatus polysaccharide in treating hepatitis B in China

Polyporus umbellatus polysaccharide (PUPS) has been identified as the major bioactive component in the mushroom Polyporus umbellatus that has immuno-enhancing, antitumor, anti-inflammatory, and hepatoprotective activities. Both PUPS capsule and injection are Chinese Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) approved drugs, which have been used alone or in combination with a variety of clinical drugs for treating Hepatitis B, lung and liver cancers in China since 1990. Our aim was to review both the efficacy and problem associated with PUPS mono-and combination therapy conducted in China and the underlying molecular mechanisms. To this end, the term Polyporus umbellatus polysaccharide both in English and in Chinese was used to conduct a systematic search of PubMed, VIP (Chongqing VIP Chinese Scientific Journals Database), CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure), and Wanfang database. A total 11,703 clinically reported cases in China from over 100 publications during the past 27 years were evaluated, translated into English, and summarized into 3 figures and 13 tables to provide a general view of efficacy of PUPS during mono-and combination therapy. The published data showed the effectiveness of PUPS for treating hepatitis B in most reported cases. Moreover, the combined therapies for PUPS plus hepatitis B vaccine, PUPS plus interferon, PUPS plus acyclovir, and PUPS plus iRNA are better than when treated with either drug alone. Overall, when PUPS is used alone or in combination with other drugs for prevention and treatment of hepatitis B-affected patients, the efficacy is convincible.