{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,13]],"date-time":"2026-08-13T04:30:05Z","timestamp":1786595405437,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"16","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,11]],"date-time":"2026-08-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786406400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Int. J. Mol. Sci.","IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Chemotherapy-induced immune dysregulation remains a major challenge in patients with advanced solid tumors. \u03b2-Glucan has been reported to possess immunomodulatory properties; however, its longitudinal effects on immune homeostasis during chemotherapy remain unclear. In this prospective, randomized phase II study, patients receiving chemotherapy were assigned to receive \u03b2-glucan powder (with L-glutamine and bioactive protein from bovine colostrum), \u03b2-glucan capsules (with L-glutamine), or standard care. Clinical outcomes, serial hematologic parameters, longitudinal immune profiling, and an in vitro Jurkat T-cell viability assay were evaluated. Compared with controls, \u03b2-glucan supplementation improved the disease control rate, accelerated neutrophil recovery, and maintained a more stable neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio during chemotherapy. Longitudinal immune profiling demonstrated greater stability of T-cell, NK-cell, NKT-cell, and KIR (CD158)-expressing immune-cell populations in \u03b2-glucan supplementation groups, suggesting attenuation of chemotherapy-induced immune remodeling. Both \u03b2-glucan formulations showed comparable immunomodulatory effects, although the expression of CD158b(+) and CD158i(+) NK-cell subsets remained more stable in the powder group during later treatment. In vitro, \u03b2-glucan significantly reduced Jurkat T-cell viability, indicating direct biological activity in addition to its clinical immunomodulatory effects. These findings suggest that \u03b2-glucan supplementation helps preserve immune homeostasis during chemotherapy and may serve as a promising adjunctive immunonutritional strategy for patients with advanced solid tumors.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms27167189","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,11]],"date-time":"2026-08-11T13:46:16Z","timestamp":1786455976000},"page":"7189","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Beta-Glucan Supplementation Improves Clinical Outcomes and Preserves Immune Homeostasis in Patients with Advanced Solid Tumors Receiving Chemotherapy: A Prospective Phase II Randomized Three-Arm Clinical Trial"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7062-5194","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wen-Chi","family":"Yang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Nursing, Meiho University, PingTung 912, Taiwan"},{"name":"Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Ping-Tung Veterans General Hospital, Pingtung 900, Taiwan"},{"name":"School of Medicine, College of Medicine, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung 804, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4342-8969","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ming-Shyan","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Chest, Department of Internal Medicine, E-DA Cancer Hospital, Kaohsiung 824005, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4674-3363","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yi-Hong","family":"Tsai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacy and Master Program, College of Pharmacy and Health Care, Tajen University, Pingtung County 90741, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1365-2567.2007.02587.x","article-title":"Cancer immunoediting from immune surveillance to immune escape","volume":"121","author":"Kim","year":"2007","journal-title":"Immunology"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"11","DOI":"10.1038\/nrc1252","article-title":"Cytokines in cancer pathogenesis and cancer therapy","volume":"4","author":"Dranoff","year":"2004","journal-title":"Nat. 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