Screening for In Vitro and In Vivo Antitumor Activities of the MushroomAgaricus Blazei

Abstract

We have investigated the in vitro antitumor activity of the mushroom Agaricus blazei Murill on human cancer cell lines as well as its potential anticancer activity in a model of rat colon carcinogenesis. The in vitro anticancer analysis was performed using 9 human cancer cell lines incubated with organic and aqueous extracts of A. blazei. Antitumor activity was observed with the dichloromethane/methanol and hexanic extracts of A. blazei at 250 mu g/ml for all cancer cell lines tested. No antiproliferative/cytotoxic activities were detected for the aqueous, methanol, ethyl acetate, or n-butanolic extracts. In the in vivo analysis, crude A. blazei was given orally after carcinogen treatment in a rat medium-term study (20 weeks) of colon carcinogenesis using aberrant crypt foci (ACF) as biomarker. Male Wistar rats were given dimethylhydrazine (DMH) and then were fed A. blazei at 5% in the diet until Week 20. ACF were scored for number and crypt multiplicity. A. blazei intake did not suppress ACF development or crypt multiplicity induced by DMH. No differences in tumor incidence in the colon were observed among the DMH-treated groups. Our results indicate that employing A. blazei in the diet does not have a suppressive effect on colon carcinogenesis.

Structural elucidation of a heteroglycan from the fruiting bodies of Agaricus blazei Murill

“…This fungus usually serves as health-care food and alternative medicine by patients to treat common serious diseases like atherosclerosis, hepatitis, hyperlipidaemia, diabetes mellitus, dermatitis and cancer [1][2][3]. Its chemical components have been widely studied, including agaritine [4], steroids [5], lipids [4], lectin [6], and various polysaccharides [4,7]. This fungus is rich in polysaccharides that have shown significant effects in treating and preventing cancer [8].…”

The role of edible mushrooms in health: Evaluation of the evidence

“…The mechanism of this effect is possibly via action of PSK on a toll-like receptor initiating a signaling cascade involving T helper 1 cells which induce IL-2 and IFN-c and then activate natural killer cells. This sequence of signaling cascades has recently been described in the modulation of innate immunity of Agaricus blazei (Ab) (Hetland et al, 2011), although intake of 5% Ab over 4 weeks by male Wistar rats did not confirm chemopreventive activity on the initiation stage of rat colon carcinogenesis (Ziliotto, Barbisan, & Rodrigues, 2008;Ziliotto, Pinheiro, Barbisan, & Rodrigues, 2009).…”

The Agaricus blazei-Based Mushroom Extract, Andosan™, Protects against Intestinal Tumorigenesis in the A/J Min/+ Mouse

“…Later, chemically induced carcinogenesis has been used as experimental tumor models in rodents for both hepatocarcinogenesis and colon carcinogenesis studies [16,17] on possible beneficial effects of AbM extracts. The former study demonstrated hepatoprotective effect of orally administered A .…”

“…The former study demonstrated hepatoprotective effect of orally administered A . blazei extract [16], and the latter [17] showed tendency to reduced dysplastic aberrant crypt formation in colon but no difference in colon tumor incidence after A . blazei ingestion [17].…”