Cordyceps militaris (L.) Link Fruiting Body Reduces the Growth of a Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Cell Line by Increasing Cellular Levels of p53 and p21

Abstract

Cordyceps militaris (L.) Link, an edible entomopathogenic fungus widely used in traditional Chinese medicine, has numerous potential medicinal properties including antitumor activity. The methanolic extract of C. militaris fruiting body was recently shown to OPEN ACCESSMolecules 2015, 20 13928 have tumor cell growth inhibitory activity in several human tumor cell lines. Nonetheless, the mechanism of action involved is still not known. This work aimed at further studying the effect of the methanolic extract of C. militaris regarding its antitumor mechanism of action, using the non-small cell lung cancer cell line (NCI-H460) as a model. Results showed that treatment with the extract decreased cellular proliferation, induced cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 and increased apoptosis. In addition, the extract increased the levels of p53 and p21. Moreover, an increase in p-H2A.X and 53BP1 levels, together with an increase in the number of 53BP1 foci/cell (all indicative of DNA damage), were also observed after treatment with the extract. This work suggests that this extract affected NCI-H460 cellular viability through a mechanism involving DNA damage and p53 activation. This further supports the potential of this extract as a source of bioactive compounds, which may be used in anticancer strategies.

An insight into antidiabetic properties of six medicinal and edible mushrooms: Inhibition of α-amylase and α-glucosidase linked to type-2 diabetes

“…Six edible and medicinal mushroom species were used in this study: . The origin of samples, identification and preparation of dried powder were described previously Reis et al, 2014;Stojković et al, 2014;Bizarro et al, 2015;Glamočlija et al, 2015;Vieira et al, 2016).…”

“…To continue our investigations Reis et al, 2014;Stojković et al, 2014;Bizarro et al, 2015;Glamočlija et al, South African Journal of Botany 120 (2019) In vitro assays on α-amylase and α-glucosidase enzyme inhibition were performed with methanolic extracts of the selected mushrooms.…”

Anticancer effects of β-elemene with hyperthermia in lung cancer cells

“…Furthermore, it was shown in the present study that β-elemene with hyperthermia altered the cell cycle distribution, significantly decreasing the percentage of cells in S phase compared with the control. Cell cycle regulation serves a key function in cell proliferation, and P21 is considered to be a key cell cycle checkpoint protein (36,37). In the present study, it was demonstrated that β-elemene with hyperthermia significantly increased the expression of P21, which resulted in a decreased S phase in the A549 cells.…”

Extraction methods and sedative–hypnotic effects of polysaccharide and total flavonoids of Cordyceps militaris

“…All of the mice were kept at [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] C and 40%-60% humidity and were fed a standard laboratory feed diet with water available ad libitum. All of the mice in each group were intragastrically administered successively for 30 days according to the doses described above.…”

“…C. militaris belongs to Ascomycotina, Clavicipitaceae and Cordyceps. Additionally, C. militaris and C. sinensis belong to the same genus, and many studies have shown that C. militaris has similar functions to those of C. sinensis [12][13][14][15]. Presently, only a few reports have been made on the sedative and hypnotic effects of C. militaris, and the reports that do exist are not thorough [16].…”