Background of Agaricus Blazei (Sun) Mushroom

Agaricus blazei (A blazei) is known in Brazil as the sun mushroom, in Japan as himematsutake, agarikusutake or kawarihiratake and in China as Ji Song Rong. It was brought to Japan in the 1970s due to its beneficial health effects, which included the prevention of: diabetes, hyperlipidemia, arteriosclerosis and chronic hepatitis^1,2. Nowadays, it is widely utilized in Oriental countries as an edible mushroom. Considered as a functional food (functional food is a part of an everyday diet and is reduce the risk of chronic disease beyond the widely accepted nutritional effects), it is vastly utilized in traditional medicine in the form of a medicinal extract for the prevention and treatment of cancer³.

In general, the total composition of the mushroom is water (90%), protein (2–40%), carbohydrates (1–55%), fiber (3–32%) and ash (8–10%). The ash content is made up mainly of salts, as well as metals like calcium and magnesium. Among the carbohydrates are notably some biologically active polysaccharides, present in the basidiocarp and/or mycelium, such as the β-glucans (“Beta-glucans”) which have attracted the attention of investigators⁴.

RESEARCH: A recent study suggests that Agaricus extract has estrogen-like activity and may help prevent atherosclerosis via dual roles in cell signaling, macrophage development suppression and endothelial cell recovery from vascular damage⁵. A major constituent of Agaricus, ergosterol, was found to inhibit tumor growth in mice via direct inhibition of tumor-induced angiogenesis⁶. Other studies demonstrated that polysaccharides present in Agaricus extract caused activation of macrophages or natural killer cells⁷ and induced cytotoxic T-lymphocyte activity in tumor-bearing mice. Specifically, activation of natural killer cells was mediated through IL-12-induced IFN-gamma expression⁸. Both aqueous and organic extracts of Agaricus offered protection to cells exposed to methyl methanesulphonate, a mutagenic agent. The stimulus produced by linoleic acid on beta-DNA polymerase, an enzyme involved in repair mechanism following exposure of DNA to alkylating agents, is thought responsible for such an effect⁹. Furthermore, Agaricus extract stimulates caspase 3 activation and reduces telomerase activity¹⁰ possibly through regulation of Akt signalingthereby inducing apoptosis in cancer cell lines. Blazeispirol A, produced by Agaricus fermentation, causes both caspase-dependent and -independent cell death in human Hep 3B cells¹¹. Agaritine, a hydrazine-containing constituent exhibits anti-tumor activity toward U937 leukemic cells mediated through apoptosis¹².