Medicinal mushrooms

[Mystic Wolf]

Medicinal mushrooms represent a growing segment of today’s pharmaceutical industry owing to the plethora of useful bioactive compounds. While they have a long history of use across diverse cultures, they are backed up by reasonable scientific investigation now. The mycologists around the world, firmly believe that a greater knowledge of mushroom can ameliorate many forms of cancers at various stages. Exploration of unique species with medicinal properties from the untapped wilderness is warranted. Conservation and cloning of therapeutic mushrooms are needed for sustainable development. Dedicated research should be undertaken to isolate, purify and structural investigation of novel anti-cancer and immune-stimulator compounds. Studies to date have identified a number of compounds and elucidated the underlying mechanisms. However, research is needed to elucidate the different roles of multiple active compounds and the pathways involved. These findings are important due to the lack of chemotherapeutic agents of some forms of malignant cancer, viz. estrogen receptor-negative human breast cancer, mesothelioma, acute lymphocytic leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia, Hodgkin lymphoma, hopeless astrocytoma, etc. The present results and data might provide new insights into the possible therapeutic uses of mushrooms and helpful suggestions for the design of anti-tumor drugs from mushrooms in combating cancer.