Avemar

PURPOSE: An open-label, matched-pair (by diagnosis, stage of disease, age, and gender) pilot clinical trial was conducted to test whether the combined administration of the medical nutriment MSC (Avemar) with cytotoxic drugs and the continued administration of MSC on its own help to reduce the incidence of treatment-related febrile neutropenia in children with solid cancers compared with the same treatments without MSC. METHODS: Between December 1998 and May 2002, 22 patients (11 pairs) were enrolled in this study.

In the present study the combined effect of in vitro tamoxifen and Avemar treatment was studied on MCF-7 (ER+) breast cells as a model of a breast cancer situation. Cells were transformed for 24, 48 and 72 hours, cytotoxicity was measured by MTT assay, the percentage of apoptosis and cell proliferation was determined by flow cytometry, hematoxilin/cosin staining and by immunochemistry using the ApopTag reaction. Estrogen receptor activation was studied by semi-quantitative determination of the estrogen-responsive pS2 gene mRNA production.

The fermented wheat germ extract (code name: MSC, trade name: Avemar), with standardized benzoquinone content has been shown to inhibit tumor propagation and metastases formation in vivo. The aim of this study was to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms of the anti-tumor effect of MSC. Therefore, we have designed in vitro model experiments using T and B tumor lymphocytic cell lines.

In the late 1990's, reports were published about a biotech process by which a fermented wheat germ extract could be produced. The product, called Avemar, available as a water soluble granulate for oral consumption, has gained much attention from cancer researchers of several countries, like Israel, Hungary, the United States, England and Russia.

MSC (trade-name AVEMAR) is a per os applicable complex of multiple, biologically active molecules obtained from fermented wheat-germ extract. Preclinical studies suggest potent anti-metastatic activity and it has a favorable toxicity profile. It has been aimed in a pilot-scale, phase II clinical study to document whether or not MSC as a support to surgery or plus chemotherapy adds any therapeutic benefit compared to the same combination without MSC in colorectal cancer.

The potential of oral treatment with AVEMAR, a new benzoquinone-containing fermentation product of wheat germ, on features of experimental systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in naive mice, induced by idiotypic manipulation, was studied. We assessed the effect of AVEMAR on the profile of autoantibody production and the response of Th1/Th2 related cytokines as well as the clinical picture of experimental SLE in the SLE-induced mice.

The fermented wheat germ extract with standardized benzoquinone composition has potent tumor propagation inhibitory properties. The authors show that this extract induces profound metabolic changes in cultured MIA pancreatic adenocarcinoma cells when the [1,2-13C2]glucose isotope is used as the single tracer with biologic gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. MIA cells treated with 0.1, 1, and 10 mg/mL wheat germ extract showed a dose-dependent decrease in cell glucose consumption, uptake of isotope into ribosomal RNA (2.4%, 9.4%, and 28.0%), and release of 13CO2.

An orally applicable fermentation product of wheat germ containing 0.04% substituted benzoquinone (MSC) has been invented by Hungarian chemists under the trade name of AVEMAR. Oral administration (3 g/kg body weight) of MSC enhances blastic transformation of splenic lymphocytes in mice. The same treatment shortens the survival time of skin grafts in a co-isogenic mouse skin transplantation model, pointing to the immune-reconstructive effect of MSC. A highly significant antimetastatic effect of MSC has been observed in three metastasis models (3LL-HH, B16, HCR-25).

The supposed immunostimulatory actions of MSC, a new fermented wheat germ extract standardized to its benzoquinone composition (trade name: AVEMAR) were studied examining blastic transformation of peripheral blood lymphocytes of mice treated with MSC. It was found that MSC significantly increased the degree of blastic transformation caused by Concanavalin A. Using the B10LP to C57Bl skin graft system, MSC (0.03 and 3.0 g kg-1 applied orally) acted in favour of restoring the immune function.