“White button mushroom (WBM, Agaricus bisporus) is the most common edible mushroom in the U.S.A. Accumulated evidence demonstrates that WBM has beneficial effects on various kinds of cancers. Lectins isolated from the WBM increase the sensitivity of lung, colon, and glioblastoma cancer cells to chemotherapeutic drugs.20 In addition, the WBM lectins inhibit colon cancer cell proliferation,20 and they enhance cellular antioxidant defense mechanisms.21 As we previously demonstrated, by inhibiting aromatase activity, both total WBM extract and certain isolated fractions effectively decrease breast cancer cell proliferation.22 In these active WBM fractions, conjugated linoleic acid was an important component; it was an inhibitor of both breast cell proliferation and aromatase activity.22, 23 In addition to breast cancer cells, we evaluated the effect of WBM on PC cell lines in vitroand vivo. According to our results, in all prostate cancer cell lines, WBM extract significantly inhibits cell proliferation; this occurs through induction of apoptosis of cancer cells.24 In mice gavaged with mushroom extract, tumor size and cell proliferation decreased while apoptosis increased. Similarly, for mushroom-fed mice, microarray analysis of tumors identified significant changes in gene expression. Particularly altered were the gene networks involved in cell death; growth and proliferation; lipid metabolism; the TCA cycle; and immune response.22, 23”
Twardowski, P., Kanaya, N., Frankel, P., Synold, T., Ruel, C., Pal, S. K., Junqueira, M., Prajapati, M., Moore, T., Tryon, P., & Chen, S. (2015). A phase I trial of mushroom powder in patients with biochemically recurrent prostate cancer: Roles of cytokines and myeloid-derived suppressor cells for Agaricus bisporus-induced prostate-specific antigen responses. Cancer, 121(17), 2942–2950. https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.29421
Twardowski, P., Kanaya, N., Frankel, P., Synold, T., Ruel, C., Pal, S. K., Junqueira, M., Prajapati, M., Moore, T., Tryon, P., & Chen, S. (2015). A phase I trial of mushroom powder in patients with biochemically recurrent prostate cancer: Roles of cytokines and myeloid-derived suppressor cells for Agaricus bisporus-induced prostate-specific antigen responses. Cancer, 121(17), 2942–2950. https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.29421