A research team from Academia Sinica has solved the mystery of the anti-cancer properties of reishi mushrooms, the Taipei City-based institute said Aug. 30.
Medicinal benefits of the reishi mushroom, Ganoderma lucidum, have been known to Chinese herbalists for over two thousand years. Laboratory studies on mice have shown reishi extract can inhibit tumor growth, but the anti-cancer mechanism has until now remained unknown, the institute said.
The team, led by Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-huey and assistant research fellow Wu Chung-yi of the institute’s Genomics Research Center, showed that fucose-based polysaccharides in reishi extract inhibit cancerous tumors in mice, and they also found the molecular pathway by which it acted, the institute said. The research was published in the Aug. 20 issue of the US-based Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Hsu Hsien-yeh of Taipei City-based National Yang-Ming University had previously shown that a crude reishi polysaccharide extract known as F3 can slow tumor growth when injected into mice. The Academia Sinica team found that sera from mice immunized with F3 contain antibodies that recognize tumor antigens Globo H and related structures, with inhibition of tumor growth directly related to the amount of these antibodies.
The researchers further showed that a fucose enriched F3 fraction called FMS was even more effective at inhibiting tumors, marking fucose residue as the key anticancer component.
A GRC team led by Lin Kuo-i then found the mice’s immunocyte B1 was producing Immunoglobulin M antibodies, which recognize Globo H and kill the cancer cells.
The center’s Khoo Kay-hooi performed mass spectrometry analysis to elucidate the effective structures of the fucose-based polysaccharides, completing the investigation of the molecular pathway by which the reishi extract kills cancer cells.
The research was completed with the support of the National Science Council, Academia Sinica said.
Source: Taiwan Today
