Abstract: Different types of diseases and infections have jeopardized the life of human beings over a centenary. However, one disease that is considered pernicious and has highest standard of recurrence is cancer. Cancer, a major pandemic disease in the world, though considerably lower in India is frequently reported to grow in an alarming rate. The type and advancement in cancer decides the type of treatment amongst which includes surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, hormone therapy, stem cell transplant and precision medicine. Apart from the above conventional methods of therapy, the traditional medicines practiced for thousands of years till date are also used in therapy. Mushrooms are powerful sources of nutritional attributes which appear to reduce risk of obesity, diabetes, heart diseases and overall mortality. Some treasured and edible mushrooms like button, oyster, shiitake, etc. with effective antineoplastic effect and their active compounds of immense clinical interest are studied. The Chinese doctor Wu Ri (also, known as Wu Shui), who lived at the era of the “Ming Dynasty” (1368–1644 CE) discovered that Shiitake mushroom had an antitumor effect. Mushrooms (Shiitake, Maiitake, Reishi, Pleurotus, etc.) and mushroom-derived substances (lentinans, polysaccharides, AHCC, etc.) are effective anticancer drugs. Some mushroom-derived polysaccharides possess direct cytotoxic effect on tumor growth while the others trigger strong immune responses. The extracts from these edible varieties of mushrooms appeared to have reduced the side effects of both chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Keywords: Mushrooms; antineoplastic effect; extracts; polysaccharides; cytotoxic activity; apoptosis.
Title: Recreational Mushroom Therapy for Cancer Treatment – A Boon
Author: R. Saroja Preethy
International Journal of Life Sciences Research
ISSN 2348-313X (Print), ISSN 2348-3148 (online)
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