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Review
. 2021 Feb 8:11:602364.
doi: 10.3389/fphar.2020.602364. eCollection 2020.

Cordyceps spp.: A Review on Its Immune-Stimulatory and Other Biological Potentials

Gitishree Das  1 , Han-Seung Shin  2 , Gerardo Leyva-Gómez  3 , María L Del Prado-Audelo  3 , Hernán Cortes  4 , Yengkhom Disco Singh  5 , Manasa Kumar Panda  6 , Abhay Prakash Mishra  7 , Manisha Nigam  8 , Sarla Saklani  9 , Praveen Kumar Chaturi  8 , Miquel Martorell  10 , Natália Cruz-Martins  11   12   13 , Vineet Sharma  14 , Neha Garg  15 , Rohit Sharma  14 , Jayanta Kumar Patra  1
Affiliations
Review

Cordyceps spp.: A Review on Its Immune-Stimulatory and Other Biological Potentials

Gitishree Das et al. Front Pharmacol. .

Abstract

In recent decades, interest in the Cordyceps genus has amplified due to its immunostimulatory potential. Cordyceps species, its extracts, and bioactive constituents have been related with cytokine production such as interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, phagocytosis stimulation of immune cells, nitric oxide production by increasing inducible nitric oxide synthase activity, and stimulation of inflammatory response via mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway. Other pharmacological activities like antioxidant, anti-cancer, antihyperlipidemic, anti-diabetic, anti-fatigue, anti-aging, hypocholesterolemic, hypotensive, vasorelaxation, anti-depressant, aphrodisiac, and kidney protection, has been reported in pre-clinical studies. These biological activities are correlated with the bioactive compounds present in Cordyceps including nucleosides, sterols, flavonoids, cyclic peptides, phenolic, bioxanthracenes, polyketides, and alkaloids, being the cyclic peptides compounds the most studied. An organized review of the existing literature was executed by surveying several databanks like PubMed, Scopus, etc. using keywords like Cordyceps, cordycepin, immune system, immunostimulation, immunomodulatory, pharmacology, anti-cancer, anti-viral, clinical trials, ethnomedicine, pharmacology, phytochemical analysis, and different species names. This review collects and analyzes state-of-the-art about the properties of Cordyceps species along with ethnopharmacological properties, application in food, chemical compounds, extraction of bioactive compounds, and various pharmacological properties with a special focus on the stimulatory properties of immunity.

Keywords: clinical studies; cordycepin; cordyceps; ethnopharmacology; immune system; immunomodulatory; immunostimulation; natural medicine.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Chemical structure of the bioactive compounds isolated from Cordyceps spp.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Signal pathway activation by TLRs and CLRs and its interaction with the Cordyceps spp. derived constitutes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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