Extract from Agaricus blazei Murill can enhance immune responses elicited by DNA vaccine against foot-and-mouth disease

The fungus Agaricus blazei Murill (ABM) is particularly rich in polysaccharides, which have shown particularly strong results in treating and preventing cancers. The goal of this study was to investigate whether co-administration of the ABM extract with foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) DNA vaccine could increase the immune responses. Compared with the control mice, which received FMDV DNA vaccine alone, significant increase in not only the FMDV-specific antibody response but also T cell proliferation was observed in mice which received FMDV DNA vaccine plus the ABM extract. Taken together, these results demonstrated that application of the ABM extract might provide a strategy to improve the efficacy of DNA vaccines.