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International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms

ISSN for PRINT: 1521-9437

Institutional price:	$538.00
Issues per year:	4

Best Paper Award Selection - Editorial Board Site

2001, Volume3

156 pages

Issue price - $128.00

Higher Basidiomycota as a Source of Antitumor and Immunostimulating Polysaccharides (Review)

Sergey V. Reshetnikov
N. G. Kholodny Institute of Botany, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 2 Tereshchenkivskaya Str., Kiev 252001, Ukraine; and Med Myco Ltd., Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, Mt. Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel

Solomon P. Wasser
International Centre for Cryptogamic Plants and Fungi, Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, Mt. Carmel, Haifa, Israel; and N.G. Kholodny Institute of Botany, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine

Kok- Kheng Tan
MycoBiotech Pte Ltd 12 Science Park Drive # 04-01 The Mendel- Singapore Science Park 1 118 225, Singapore

ABSTRACT

Higher Basidiomycota mushrooms arc unlimited sources of anticancer and immunostimulating polysaccharides. Many if not all Basidiomycota mushrooms contain biologically active polysaccharides. The data about mushrooms containing such polysaccharides are summarized. Six hundred and fifty-one species and 7 intraspecific taxa from 182 genera of higher Hetero- and Homobasidiomycetes contain pharmacologically active polysaccharides. Fruiting bodies, culture mycelium, and culture broth are sources of antitumor polysaccharides. The present review includes the data on the chemical structure of primary types of biologically active polysaccharides found in mushrooms. From 10 to 30 fractions of polysaccharides can be extracted from mushroom material, and most of them demonstrated antitumor activity. Special attention is turned to comparative analysis of polysaccharide fraction composition in fruiting bodies and culture mycelia of the same species. It is shown in examples of Agaricus blazei, Ganoderma tsugae, and Grifola frondosa that antitumor polysaccharides obtained from fruiting bodies, culture mycelia. or produced in a culture medium have a different chemical structure, and some polysaccharides developed in pure culture conditions were never found in fruiting bodies. Fractionation procedures for polysaccharide extraction and methods of their activation by chemical modification arc reviewed.