Health Benefits of Ganoderma lucidum as a Medicinal Mushroom

Abstract

Ganoderma lucidum (Curtis) P. Karst., known as “Lingzhi” in China or “Reishi” in Japan, is a well-known medicinal mushroom and traditional Chinese medicine, which has been used for the prevention and treatment of bronchitis, allergies, hepatitis, immunological disorders and cancer. G. lucidum is rarely collected from nature and mostly cultivated on wood logs and sawdust in plastic bags or bottles to meet the demands of international markets. Diverse groups of chemical compounds with pharmacological activities, isolated from the mycelia and fruiting bodies of G. lucidum are triterpenoids, polysaccharides (β-D-glucans), proteins, amino acids, nucleosides, alkaloids, steroids, lactones, lectins, fatty acids, and enzymes. The biologically active compounds as primarily triterpenoids and polysaccharides of G. lucidum have been reported to possess hepatoprotective, antihypertensive, hypocholesterolemic, antihistaminic effects and antioxidant, antitumor, immunomodulatory, and antiangiogenic activities. Several formulations have been developed, patented and used as nutraceuticals, nutriceuticals and pharmaceuticals from G. lucidum’s water or ethanol extracts and rarely purified active compounds. As the result of clinical trials, various products have commercially become available as syrup, injection, tablet, tincture or bolus of powdered medicine and an ingredient or additive in dark chocolate bars and organic fermented medicinal mushroom drink mixes such as green teas, coffees, and hot cacaos. This review has intended to give and discuss recent knowledge on phytochemical and pharmacological compositions, therapeutic and side effects, clinical trials, and commercial products of G. lucidum.

Medicinal Mushrooms: Bioactive Compounds, Use, and Clinical Trials

“…Long known as the “mushroom of immortality”, Ganoderma lucidum , also known as ling zhi or reishi, is one of the most widely used medicinal mushrooms in the world today. It has been used to promote well-being and longevity since ancient times in traditional Chinese medicine, as it was included in Shen Nong’s Materia Medica (206 BC-8 AD), and it is now listed in the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia, Chinese Pharmacopoeia, and Therapeutic Compendium, and is also widely used as an adjuvant in the treatment of various types of cancer [ 20 ]. More than 100 reishi-based products are currently marketed, such as the nutraceuticals Ganopoly and Immunlink MBG, containing aqueous polysaccharide fractions, as well as a wide range of supplements often also containing other mushroom species extracts, functional foods, mycopharmaceuticals, and cosmeceuticals, prepared from carpophores, mycelia, or spore powder.…”

“…Triterpene compounds are derivatives from lanosterol, including ganoderic acids, ganodermic acid, ganodermic alcohols, lucidones, and lucinedic acids, and they possess marked antitumor, antimetastatic, cytotoxic, and enzyme inhibitory properties. The main polysaccharides are α-1,3, β-1,3 and β-1,6-D-glucans and ganoderan with glucose as a major sugar component, characterized by a strong antiangiogenic and immune system-strengthening properties [ 20 , 21 ]. These two categories of molecules are primarily responsible for the anticancer properties of reishi, both by suppressing cell proliferation, metastasis, and invasion and by promoting apoptosis, combined with its immunomodulating, immunostimulating, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory activities.…”

“…In particular, concerning immunomodulatory action, it has been observed that this occurs through multiple mechanisms, such as the activation of cytotoxic T cells, B lymphocytes, dendritic cells, macrophages, NK cells, the TLR-4 pathway, and other immune cells, as well as their by-products TNF-α, interleukins IL-1, IL-2, IL-3, and IL-6, and active nitrogen and oxygen intermediates [ 20 ]. Lee et al [ 22 ] found that the G .…”

“…It has been observed in vitro that the antiproliferative and proapoptotic action of reishi terpenes, polysaccharides, and proteins occurs by stimulating the proliferation of undifferentiated spleen cells and the production of cytokines and antibodies. They also have an antimetastatic action, which they exert by activating the NF-κB and MAP kinase pathways, promoting cytokine release [ 20 ]. A great deal of research has been carried out on ganoderic acids; ganoderic acid T, for instance, has been shown to induce apoptosis in metastatic lung cancer cells by acting on the pathway linked to mitochondrial dysfunction and the expression of the tumor protein p53.…”

“…lucidum possesses a plethora of other bioactive metabolites with numerous effects, more than 400 of which can be found in the literature (Bulam et al 2019). In addition to those already seen, there are also peptides (GLP from the water-soluble extract, perhaps the main agent responsible for the fungus’s alternative oxidase (AOX) activity), peptidoglycans (GLPP, capable of neutralizing ROS damage in rat macrophages; ganoderan C with hypoglycemic activity), polyphenols, ergostan sterols and ergosterol, alkaloids, fatty acids with tumor proliferation-inhibiting action, nucleotides and nucleosides with platelet aggregation effects, the α-glucosidase inhibitor SKG-3, and laccase isoenzymes with antiviral properties [ 20 , 21 ].…”