The number of mushrooms on Earth is estimated at 140,000, yet maybe only 10% (approximately 14,000 named species) are known. Mushrooms comprise a vast and yet largely untapped source of powerful new pharmaceutical products. In particular, and most importantly for modern medicine, they represent an unlimited source of polysaccharides with antitumor and immunostimulating properties. Many, if not all, Basidiomycetes mushrooms contain biologically active polysaccharides in fruit bodies, cultured mycelium, culture broth. Data on mushroom polysaccharides have been collected from 651 species and 7 infraspecific taxa from 182 genera of higher Hetero- and Homobasidiomycetes. These polysaccharides are of different chemical composition, with most belonging to the group of β-glucans; these have β-(1→3) linkages in the main chain of the glucan and additional β-(1→6) branch points that are needed for their antitumor action. High molecular weight glucans appear to be more effective than those of low molecular weight. Chemical modification is often carried out to improve the antitumor activity of polysaccharides and their clinical qualities (mostly water solubility). The main procedures used for chemical improvement are: Smith degradation (oxydo-reducto-hydrolysis), formolysis, and carboxymethylation. Most of the clinical evidence for antitumor activity comes from the commercial polysaccharides lentinan, PSK (krestin), and schizophyllan, but polysaccharides of some other promising medicinal mushroom species also show good results. Their activity is especially beneficial in clinics when used in conjunction with chemotherapy. Mushroom polysaccharides prevent oncogenesis, show direct antitumor activity against various allogeneic and syngeneic tumors, and prevent tumor metastasis. Polysaccharides from mushrooms do not attack cancer cells directly, but produce their antitumor effects by activating different immune responses in the host. The antitumor action of polysaccharides requires an intact T-cell component; their activity is mediated through a thymus-dependent immune mechanism. Practical application is dependent not only on biological properties, but also on biotechnological availability. The present review analyzes the pecularities of polysaccharides derived from fruiting bodies and cultured mycelium (the two main methods of biotechnological production today) in selected examples of medicinal mushrooms.

https://www.xn--c1atere.xn--p1ai/upload/files/_wasser_polysaccharide.pdf

Medicinal mushrooms as a source of antitumor and immunomodulating polysaccharides.

Botanical polysaccharides: macrophage immunomodulation and therapeutic potential.

Mushrooms have been valued as edible and medicinal resources, and antitumor substances have been identified in many mushroom species. Polysaccharides are the best known and most potent mushroom-derived substances with antitumor and immunomodulating properties. Although the isolation process, structural characterization and antitumor activity of mushroom polysaccharides have been extensively investigated in the past three decades, the relationship between the antitumor activity and the chemical composition as well as the high order structure of their active components is still not well established. These studies are still in progress in many laboratories, and the role of polysaccharides as antitumor agent is especially under intense debate. The purpose of the present review is to summarize the available information, and to reflect the current status of this research area with a view for future direction.

Antitumor polysaccharides from mushrooms: a review on their isolation process, structural characteristics and antitumor activity

Immunomodulating and anticancer agents in the realm of macromycetes fungi (macrofungi)

Medicinal importance of fungal β-(1→3), (1→6)-glucans

Subset analysis of splenic lymphocytes using flow cytometry showed that the percentages of Thy1.2-(pan T-cells), L3T4-(CD4, helper T-cells), and Lyt2-(CD8, cytotoxic T-cells) positive cell populations were significantly increased in mice orally administered a hot water-soluble fraction from Agaricus blazei as compared with mice treated only with saline. 13C-NMR data indicates that the main component in the active polysaccharide is the complex of α-1,6- and α-1,4-glucan, which had already been shown to have anti-tumor activity against Sarcoma 180. It seems that the polysaccharide from Agaricus blazei may be an effective prophylactic, protecting humans against cancer by stimulating lymphocytes such as cytotoxic T-cells.

/pdf/polysaccharides-from-agaricus-blazei-stimulate-lymphocyte-t-4hijxxdmwy.pdf

Polysaccharides from Agaricus blazei Stimulate Lymphocyte T-Cell Subsets in Mice

SUMMARY: Anti-tumor active polysaccharide against Sarcoma 180 was isolated by DEAESepharose CL-6B and Sepharose 4B column chromatography from the hot-water soluble fraction of the mycelium of liquid-cultured Agaricus blazei mill. This polysaccharide did not react with antibodies of anti-tumor polysaccharides such as lentinan, gliforan, and FIII-2-b which is one of anti-tumor polysaccharides from Agaricus blazei. Moreover, the analyses of 13C-NMR and GC-MS suggested that this polysaccharide was preliminarily glucomannan with a main chain of [g-l,2-1inked D-mannopyranosyl residues and 13-D-glucopyranosyl-3-O13-D-glucopyranosyl residues as a side chain. This polysaccharide was completely different from the anti-tumor polysaccharide from fruiting body ofAgaricus blazei, ~-1,6-glucan.

https://iubmb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/15216549900201773

Anti-tumor polysaccharide from the mycelium of liquid-cultured Agaricus blazei mill.

Lemon flavonoid, eriocitrin, suppresses exercise-induced oxidative damage in rat liver

Fucogalactan isolated from Sarcodon aspratus elicits release of tumor necrosis factor-α and nitric oxide from murine macrophages

Potent antioxidative hydroxyflavanones were produced with Aspergillus saitoi from hesperidin or naringin, which are flavanone glycosides in citrus fruit with weak antioxidative activity. The hydroxyflavanone produced from hesperidin was identified as 8-hydroxyhesperetin (8-HHE), a novel substance, and those from naringin were identified as carthamidin (6-hydroxynaringenin) and isocarthamidin (8-hydroxynaringenin) by FAB-MS, 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR analyses. The antioxidative activity of these hydroxyflavanones was examined by using the free radical-scavenging system of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and the methyl linoleate oxidation system. The hydroxyflavanones (8-HHE, carthamidin, and isocarthamidin) exhibited stronger activity than the flavanone glycosides (hesperidin or naringin) and their aglycones (hesperetin or naringenin). The activity of 8-HHE and isocarthamidin was comparable to that of alpha-tocopherol, and that of carthamidin was weaker than that of isocarthamidin. The hydroxyflavanones, which were hydroxylated on A ring of flavanone by Aspergillus saitoi, were obtained as potent antioxidants.

Ken-ichiro Minato

Papers

Polysaccharides from Agaricus blazei Stimulate Lymphocyte T-Cell Subsets in Mice

Anti-tumor polysaccharide from the mycelium of liquid-cultured Agaricus blazei mill.

Lemon flavonoid, eriocitrin, suppresses exercise-induced oxidative damage in rat liver

Fucogalactan isolated from Sarcodon aspratus elicits release of tumor necrosis factor-α and nitric oxide from murine macrophages

New potent antioxidative hydroxyflavanones produced with Aspergillus saitoi from flavanone glycoside in citrus fruit.