Cell death induction by mycelium extracts from Pleurotus spp. on cervical cancer cell lines

Abstract

Mushrooms have health benefits, including anti-tumoral properties. We evaluated the cytotoxic and cell death induction effects of water-soluble extracts of Pleurotus ostreatus and Pleurotus eryngii mycelium in the cervical cancer cell lines HeLa (HVP18 + ) and SiHa (HVP16 + ) as well as the non-tumoral cell line HaCaT. Both Pleurotus extracts presented similar protein patterns from 190 to 10 kDa and displayed protease activity on a gelatine substrate. The mycelium extracts of both Pleurotus strains induced a dose-dependent cytotoxic effect on HPV + cells (IC 50 65 µg), whereas HaCaT cells were less susceptible (IC 50 90 µg). The cytotoxic effect at the IC 50 concentration was not associated with apoptosis, the activation of Caspases-3/7 was not significantive; only P. eryngii induced a moderate (1.2-fold) increase in SiHa cells. Pleurotus extracts induced autophagy, mainly in SiHa cells (4.3-fold). Neither extracts induced changes in p53 protein expression, suggesting that the cytotoxic effect could be due to p53-independent pathways.

In Vitro Efficacy of Extracts and Isolated Bioactive Compounds from Ascomycota Fungi in the Treatment of Colorectal Cancer: A Systematic Review

“…In this context, fungi represent a relevant resource for isolating bioactive compounds, including polysaccharides, terpenes, terpenoids, proteins, amino acids, nucleosides, and phenols, among others, with antitumor activity and different mechanisms of action, from cell cycle arrest to the suppression of angiogenesis, and a metastatic capacity or induction of cell apoptosis [ 10 ]. In fact, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota are the two most researched fungal phyla in oncology [ 11 , 12 ]. Ascomycota is the largest fungal taxonomic group with around 6600 genera classified in approximately 130 orders [ 13 ].…”