Can medicinal mushrooms have prophylactic or therapeutic effect against COVID‐19 and its pneumonic superinfection and complicating inflammation?

Abstract

Medicinal mushrooms have documented effects against different diseases, including infections and inflammatory disorders. The related Basidiomycota Agaricus blaz ei Murill (AbM), Hericium erinaceus (HE), and Grifola frondosa (GF) have been shown to exert antimicrobial activity against viral agents, Gram‐positive and Gram‐negative bacteria, and parasites in vitro and in vivo. Since the mechanism is immunomodulatory and not antibiotical, the mushrooms should be active against multi‐drug resistant microbes as well. Moreover, since these Basidiomycota also have anti‐inflammatory properties, they may be suited for treatment of the severe lung inflammation that often follows COVID‐19 infection. An AbM‐based mushroom extract (Andosan™), also containing HE and GF, has been shown to significantly reduce bacteraemia and increase survival in mice with pneumococcal sepsis, and to improve symptoms and quality of life in IBD patients via an anti‐inflammatory effect. Hence, such mushroom extracts could have prophylactic or therapeutic effect against the pneumonic superinfection and severe lung inflammation that often complicates COVID‐19 infection. Here, we review antimicrobial and anti‐inflammatory properties of AbM, HE and GF mushrooms, which could be used for the battle against COVID‐19.

Food Ingredients and Active Compounds against the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic: A Comprehensive Review

“…Anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities, antiviral capacity, prevent digestion issues, reduce the risk of chronic diseases [45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53] Inhibition of viral replication Disruption of viral spike protein Inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 protease [26,[54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69] Bioactive lipids comprise several endogenous molecules affecting a wide array of biological processes. Typical examples of lipids include omega-3 fatty acids and their metabolic products, carotenoids, phytosterols, and fat-soluble vitamins, phenolic lipids, and acylglycerol derivatives.…”

“…On the other hand, Hetland et al [ 69 ] recently highlighted the potential for medicinal mushrooms, such as Basidiomyceta Agaricus blazei Murill , Hericium erinaceus , and Grifola frondosa, for prophylactic and therapeutic potential against severe lung inflammation that often follows COVID-19 infection. An AbM-based mushroom extract (Andosan™), also containing Hericium erinaceus and Grifola frondosa , has been shown to significantly reduce bacteremia and increase survival in mice with pneumococcal sepsis and to improve symptoms and quality of life of patients with inflammatory bowel disease via an anti-inflammatory effect.…”

Different ways to exploit mushrooms: A review

“…A daily intake of mushrooms can boost the human body's immune responses, thereby enhancing the disease tolerance and causing reversion of an ailment (Chang and Buswell 2008). The therapeutic and nutritional attributes of mushrooms help to fight against the pandemic Covid-19 as they boost the immune system and countermeasures the superinfection associated with the Covid-19 attack (Hetland et al 2020).…”

The story of an extraordinary year: Challenges and opportunities in responding to Covid-19

“…Samples from covid-19 patients and convalescent blood donors have been used to evaluate a test for the inflammatory marker protein, Neopterin, which is increased in covid-19 infection [ 8 ]. Further studies of inflammatory marker proteins calprotectin, Syndecan-1 and NETS are ongoing [ 9 ], as well as one in which possible antiviral effect of an extract (Andosan TM ) of the medicinal mushroom Agaricus blazei with antimicrobial property, is examined in corona-infected host cells [ 9 ] From the Norwegian SARS-CoV-2 cohort study, several interesting results have been published [ [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] ]…”