Biotech. 2012 March; 2(1): 1–15.
Published online 2011 November 25. doi: 10.1007/s13205-011-0036-2
PMCID: PMC3339609
Recent developments in mushrooms as anti-cancer therapeutics: a review
1 and
This article has been cited by other articles in PMC.
Abstract
From
time immemorial, mushrooms have been valued by humankind as a culinary
wonder and folk medicine in Oriental practice. The last decade has
witnessed the overwhelming interest of western research fraternity in
pharmaceutical potential of mushrooms. The chief medicinal uses of
mushrooms discovered so far are as anti-oxidant, anti-diabetic,
hypocholesterolemic, anti-tumor, anti-cancer, immunomodulatory,
anti-allergic, nephroprotective, and anti-microbial agents. The
mushrooms credited with success against cancer belong to the genus Phellinus, Pleurotus, Agaricus, Ganoderma, Clitocybe, Antrodia, Trametes, Cordyceps, Xerocomus, Calvatia, Schizophyllum, Flammulina, Suillus, Inonotus, Inocybe, Funlia, Lactarius, Albatrellus, Russula, and Fomes.
The anti-cancer compounds play crucial role as reactive oxygen species
inducer, mitotic kinase inhibitor, anti-mitotic, angiogenesis inhibitor,
topoisomerase inhibitor, leading to apoptosis, and eventually checking
cancer proliferation. The present review updates the recent findings on
the pharmacologically active compounds, their anti-tumor potential, and
underlying mechanism of biological action in order to raise awareness
for further investigations to develop cancer therapeutics from
mushrooms. The mounting evidences from various research groups across
the globe, regarding anti-tumor application of mushroom extracts
unarguably make it a fast-track research area worth mass attention.
Keywords: Polysaccharides, β-Glucan, Anti-tumor agent, Apoptosis, Caspase
....read more and full article: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3339609/
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