The preoperative administration of lentinan ameliorated the impairment of natural killer activity after cardiopulmonary bypass

Authors: Kimikazu Hamano, Hidenori Gohra, Tomoe Katoh, Yoshihiko Fujimura, Nobuya Zempo, Kensuke Esato

Journal: International Journal of Immunopharmacology

Study Design: Randomized controlled trial

Participants: 25 adults undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting

Intervention: The patients were randomly assigned to two groups:

• Lentinan group (n = 10): Received 2 mg lentinan intravenously 7 days before surgery
• Control group (n = 15): Received saline as a placebo intravenously 7 days before surgery

Outcome Measures:

• White blood cell (WBC) count
• Percentage of lymphocytes
• Subsets of lymphocytes (CD4-positive and CD8-positive T cells)
• Natural killer (NK) cell activity

Summary: The study aimed to investigate whether preoperative administration of lentinan could prevent the impairment of lymphocyte function after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). The results showed that while there was no significant difference in WBC count or lymphocyte percentage between the two groups, the lentinan group exhibited a faster recovery of CD4-positive T cells and maintained near-normal NK cell activity after CPB, whereas the control group showed significant impairment in NK cell activity. The study concluded that preoperative lentinan administration could ameliorate the impairment of NK cell activity and promote the rapid recovery of CD4-positive T cells after CPB.