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Review
. 2022 Jun 25;27(13):4090.
doi: 10.3390/molecules27134090.

Mushroom Polysaccharide-Assisted Anticarcinogenic Mycotherapy: Reviewing Its Clinical Trials

Iyyakkannu Sivanesan  1 , Manikandan Muthu  2 , Judy Gopal  2 , Jae-Wook Oh  3
Affiliations
Review

Mushroom Polysaccharide-Assisted Anticarcinogenic Mycotherapy: Reviewing Its Clinical Trials

Iyyakkannu Sivanesan et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

Of the biologically active components, polysaccharides play a crucial role of high medical and pharmaceutical significance. Mushrooms have existed for a long time, dating back to the time of the Ancient Egypt and continue to be well explored globally and experimented with in research as well as in national and international cuisines. Mushroom polysaccharides have slowly become valuable sources of nutraceuticals which have been able to treat various diseases and disorders in humans. The application of mushroom polysaccharides for anticancer mycotherapy is what is being reviewed herein. The widespread health benefits of mushroom polysaccharides have been highlighted and the significant inputs of mushroom-based polysaccharides in anticancer clinical trials have been presented. The challenges and limitation of mushroom polysaccharides into this application and the gaps in the current application areas that could be the future direction have been discussed.

Keywords: anticancer; clinical trials; glucans; lentinans; mushroom polysaccharides; treatment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Snapshot of commercially available mushrooms in a traditional Asian market.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Chemical structures of anticarcinogenic mushroom polysaccharides.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Overview of the anticancer mechanisms of mushroom/mushroom polysaccharides. Abbreviations: PI3Ks—phosphoinositide 3-kinases; AKT—serine/threonine protein kinase; TCF/LEF—T cell factor/lymphoid enhancer factor family; Wnt—wingless and Int-1; VEGF—vascular endothelial growth factor); PARP—poly adenosine diphosphate-ribose polymerase; DJ-1—Parkinson disease protein 7; p21Waf1/Cip1—cyclin-dependent Kinase Inhibitor; K-ras—Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homologue; NF-κB—Nuclear factor kappa B; WPOP-N1—Pleurotus ostreatus polysaccharide.
Figure 4
Figure 4
A pubmed-based search showing the updated trend in medicinal mushroom research. The keywords that defined the search were (a) mushroom and bioactivity (1320 reports); (b) mushroom and anticancer (693 reports); (c) mushroom polysaccharides (3180 reports); (d) mushroom polysaccharides and bioactivity (445 reports); and (e) mushroom polysaccharides and anticancer (230 reports).
Figure 4
Figure 4
A pubmed-based search showing the updated trend in medicinal mushroom research. The keywords that defined the search were (a) mushroom and bioactivity (1320 reports); (b) mushroom and anticancer (693 reports); (c) mushroom polysaccharides (3180 reports); (d) mushroom polysaccharides and bioactivity (445 reports); and (e) mushroom polysaccharides and anticancer (230 reports).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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