title: Medicinal mushroom modulators of molecular targets as cancer therapeutics.
abstract: Empirical approaches to discover anticancer drugs and cancer treatments have made limited progress in the past several decades in finding a cure for cancer. The expanded knowledge of the molecular basis of tumorigenesis and metastasis, together with the inherently vast structural diversity of natural compounds found in mushrooms, provided unique opportunities for discovering new drugs that rationally target the abnormal molecular and biochemical signals leading to cancer. This review focuses on mushroom low-molecular-weight secondary metabolites targeting processes such as apoptosis, angiogenesis, metastasis, cell cycle regulation, and signal transduction cascades. Also discussed in this review are high-molecular-weight polysaccharides or polysaccharide-protein complexes from mushrooms that appear to enhance innate and cell-mediated immune responses, exhibit antitumor activities in animals and humans, and demonstrate the anticancer properties of selenium compounds accumulated in mushrooms.
authors.affiliation: Biodiversity and Biotechnology Center of Cryptogamic Plants and Fungi, The Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Israel.
authors.forename: Ben-Zion
authors.initials: BZ
authors.lastname: Zaidman
authors.forename: Majed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yassin
authors.forename: Jamal
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mahajna
authors.forename: Solomon P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Wasser
mesh_terms: D000363:Agaricales / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000187:drug effects*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D011134:Polysaccharides