Anticancer and Immunopotentiating Activities of Crude Polysaccharides from Pleurotus nebrodensis on Mouse Sarcoma 180

Abstract

Pleurotus nebrodensis is an edible and commercially available mushroom in Korea. This study was conducted in order to evaluate the anticancer and immunopotentiating activities of crude polysaccharides, extracted in methanol, neutral saline, and hot water (hereafter referred to as Fr. MeOH, Fr. NaCl, and Fr. HW, respectively) from the fruiting bodies of P. nebrodensis. β-Glucan and protein contents in Fr. MeOH, Fr. NaCl, and Fr. HW extracts of P. nebrodensis ranged from 23.79~36.63 g/100 g and 4.45~6.12 g/100 g, respectively. Crude polysaccharides were not cytotoxic against sarcoma 180, HT-29, NIH3T3, and RAW 264.7 cell lines at a range of 10~2,000 µg/mL. Intraperitoneal injection with crude polysaccharides resulted in a life prolongation effect of 11.76~27.06% in mice previously inoculated with sarcoma 180. Treatment with Fr. NaCl resulted in an increase in the numbers of spleen cells by 1.49 fold at the concentration of 50 µg/mL, compared with control. Fr. HW improved the immuno-potentiating activity of B lymphocytes through an increase in alkaline phosphatase activity by 1.65 fold, compared with control at 200 µg/mL. Maximum production of nitric oxide (14.3 µM) was recorded in the Fr. NaCl fraction at 200 µg/mL. Production of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) was significantly higher, compared to control, and IL-6 production was highest, in contrast to TNF-α, IL-1β, and positive control, concanavalin at the tested concentration of the various fractions. Results of the current study suggest that polysaccharides extracted from P. nebrodensis have a strong anticancer effect and may be useful as an ingredient of biopharmaceutical products for treatment of cancer.

Edible mushrooms: a potential source of essential amino acids, glucans and minerals

“…They are known to be the active compounds of β‐glucans, which are effective in treating several chronic diseases. Recent studies have linked β‐glucans with antitumor potential, radioprotective effects, immunopotentiation, antioxidant, anti‐inflammatory and hypocholesterolemic activities (Cha et al ., ; Ren et al ., ; Bae et al ., ; Pillai & Devi, ; Maity et al ., ; Silveira et al ., ).…”

Beta-glucans from edible and medicinal mushrooms: Characteristics, physicochemical and biological activities

“…According to Manzi and Pizzoferrato (2000), the amount of b-glucans in different species of edible mushrooms has been evaluated using the McCleary method with modification. The b-glucan contents of three different fractions extracted from the fruiting bodies of Pleurotus nebrodensis were quantitatively determined using a b-glucan assay kit (Cha et al, 2012). Moreover, the content of b-glucans in mushroom C. versicolor was determined enzymatically using a Megazyme kit (Kang et al, 2013).…”

Evaluation of Polish Wild Mushrooms as Beta-Glucan Sources

“…Various methods for the quantitative determination of β-glucans are described in the literature. Among them, the following can be distinguished: the immunoenzymatic method (ELISA) [ 51 ], the fluorimetric method using aniline blue [ 29 , 52 ], the spectrophotometric method with enzymatic hydrolysis [ 53 , 54 , 55 ] or the spectrophotometric method using Congo red [ 29 ], high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) [ 56 ] and others like Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) [ 57 ].…”

“…After slight modification by Manzi and Pizzoferrato [ 60 ], it was used for the determination of β-glucans in fungi. In later years, the determination of β-glucan content by enzymatic method in fungi was carried out by Bak et al [ 61 ], Cha et al [ 53 ], and Kang et al [ 54 ]. This enzymatic method with modifications is currently recommended by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC).…”