| dc.description.abstract | Cancer is associated with uncontrolled cell growth in tissues and organs and can either be
localized or spread to other organs. Hepatocellular carcinoma results when these cells are
localized in the liver and it's widely distributed in different geographical areas with a high
prevalence in sub-Saharan African, southern Asia, China and Japan. In Kenya, poor storage of
grains and consumption of donated maize occasionally predisposes a section of the rural
population to aflatoxin induced hepatoccelullar carcinoma that if not checked may reach
epidemic levels.
Cancer diagnosis is undergoing experimentation to date, prognosis largely inaccurate due to
unreliability of tumour markers and cost of treatment is prohibitive to large majority of the
population. In addition, side effects of conventional anti-cancer radiation or chemotherapy are
devastating as they lead to hair loss, loss of fertility and general weakening of the body's
immune system thereby increasing a patient's risk to infection. There is therefore a need to
develop additional ways of improving on, or supplementing the existing methods of cancer
diagnosis, assessment of prognosis and overall management. ....
The objective of this study was to determine the effect of basidiomycete extracts on induced
liver tumour in mice. 30 mice aged 3-4 weeks (5 males and 5 females) were selected and
divided into 3 groups of 10. Group 1 mice were fed on carcinogen; Diethylnitrosoamine
(DENA) and mice pellets only, group 2 on carcinogen, Agaricus bisporus extracts and mice
pellets, while Group 3 mice were fed on carcinogen, Pleura/us pulmonarius extracts and mice
pellets. Liver tumour was induced by injecting DENA at a dose of 1Oug/kg body weight. and
mice were, therafter fed on 0.01% DENA ad libitum from 3rJ to l31h week as the only drinking
water. Mice were bled every 3 weeks and sera used to determine activities of tumour marker
levels; alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminas (AST), lactate dehydrogenase
(LOB), sialic acid (SA) and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). Development and
progression of carcinogenesis was also monitored by histology. Results showed that,
mushroom extracts inhibited carcinogenesis suggesting that they could be useful as
supplementary adjuvants to other forms of cancer therapy. Based on the data presented on this
thesis, I recommend that the public be educated on safe storage of food grains and encouraged
to include mushroom in their diet as a preventive measure not only against cancer, but also to
other diseases and that future studies be designed to test therapeutic capability of other
indigenous basidiomycetes. | en |
