Turkey Tail Mushrooms Help Combat Cancer

The answer is yes, and for a long time. These compounds from Turkey Tail have been studied in patients with gastric cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and lung cancer. It has been used as adjuvant therapy in thousands of cancer patients since the mid-1970s. Let's not forget that we have already revealed it's been used since the Ming Dynasty, but let's just stick to what our most recent findings suggest. (1)

Studies show that the use of PSK from Turkey Tail as adjuvant therapy in patients with gastric (stomach) cancer may help repair immune cell damage caused by chemotherapy and strengthen the immune system.

Studies of Turkey Tail extracts as adjuvant therapy for gastric cancer include the following:

• A randomized clinical trial in Japan included 751 patients who had surgery for gastric cancer. After surgery, patients received chemotherapy with or without PSK. On average, the patients who received chemotherapy and PSK lived longer than those who received chemotherapy alone. (2)
• Another study of 262 Japanese patients showed the same results. Patients who received chemotherapy and PSK were less likely to have recurrent cancer and lived longer than those who did not, with no known toxicity. The researchers thought the study concludes that PSK from Turkey Tail and chemotherapy should be given to gastric cancer patients after surgery to remove the cancer. (3)
• A review published in 2007 combined results from 8 randomized controlled trials in 8,009 patients who had surgery to remove gastric cancers. After surgery, patients in the trials were given chemotherapy with or without PSK. The results showed the patients who used PSK from Turkey Tail were able to live longer after surgery and chemotherapy. (4)

Breast cancer

In a phase I Clinical Trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, Turkey Tail was given to 11 patients with breast cancer following radiation therapy for nine weeks. Immunological results indicated trends in increased lymphocyte counts, increased natural killer cell functional activity, and dose-related increases in CD8⁺ T  and CD19⁺B cancer fighting cells. These findings show that Turkey Tail was well tolerable in women with breast cancer in the postprimary treatment setting. The results suggest Turkey Tail may improve immune status in immunocompromised breast cancer patients following standard primary oncologic treatment. (5)

Studies of Turkey Tail and PSK as adjuvant therapy for colorectal cancer include the following:

• In a randomized setting, patients with stage II or stage III colorectal cancer received chemotherapy and radiation therapy, with or without PSK from Turkey Tail for 2 years. This study found that PSK increased the number of cancer-killing immune cells and had anticancer effects in tissue that received radiation therapy. The researchers found that the control group had a 60% survival rate compared to 86.8% in the Turkey Tail treatment group, a finding that was statistically significant. (6)
• Another review combined results from 3 clinical studies totaling 1,094 patients with colorectal cancer, following up for at least 5 years after surgery and chemotherapy. The results suggest that adjuvant immuno-chemotherapy with PSK from Turkey Tail can improve both survival and disease-free survival of patients with colorectal cancer. (7)