1. Subjects

   Twelve normal volunteers and 42 HIV-infected individuals (4 AIDS, 4 ARC, 17 PGL and 17 asymptomatic subjects) were the subjects of this study.

2. G. lucidum extracts

   Three kinds of G. lucidum extracts were used in this study. The first extract was the lyophilized from hot water extract of dried G. lucidum (G.L.) cultivated at the Mushroom Research Unit of Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University(Associate Professor Suttaphan Triratana). The second extract was Bioherb, the commercial lyophilized extract from Biotech Co. Ltd., Chiba, Japan. Third extract was lentinan, the extract from Lentinus edodes as purchased from Ajinomoto, Tokyo, Japan, 1 mg/1 ml ampoule for intravenous injection.

3. In vitro Lymphocyte studies

  Mononuclear cells were separated from the heparinized blood of the normal controls and patients by Ficoll-Hypaque gradients. T cells were enumerated by E-rosetting technique and the CD4 and CD8+ T cells were enumerated by indirect imunofluorescent staining with OKT-4 and OKT-8 monoclonal antibodies respectively. Phytohemagglutinin (PHA) -stimulated lymphocyte proliferation was performed in a 3-days microculture assay tritiated thymidine incorporation as measure of lymphocyte proliferation. Different concentration of the various extracts of G. lucidum were tested for the, ability to change the T cell subset phenotypes by in vitro coculture for 3 days. Any increase of 20% or more above background (i.e. no G. lucidum extracts was considered to be a positive immunostimulatory response.