ANTIPROLIFERATIVE ACTIVITIES of EXTRACTS FROM MYCELIAL BIOMASS OF SOME MEDICINAL BASIDIOMYCETES IN HUMAN COLON CANCER CELLS COLO 205

BACKGROUND:The anticancer effects of phytohormones of cytokinin nature are similar to those of medicinal mushrooms, which are able to synthesize cytokinins in large amounts.AIM:To determine the antiproliferative effect of crude extracts and cytokinin fractions from the mycelial biomass of seven fungi species on colon cancer cells in vitro.MATERIALS AND METHODS:Cytokinin content in mycelial biomass of Ganoderma lucidum, Lentinula edodes, Trametes versicolor, Pleurotus ostreatus, Morchella esculenta, Hericium coralloides, and Fomitopsis officinalis was determined by high performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry. The antiproliferative effect of the mushroom extracts on the human colon adenocarcinoma Colo 205 cells was assessed by MTT-test.RESULTS:The content of cytokinins (trans-zeatin, zeatin riboside, isopentenyladenosine, isopentenyladenine and zeatin-O-glucoside) was determined in the mycelial biomass of the medicinal macromycetes. Zeatin-type hormones prevailed in all species, though trans-zeatin was the most abundant in H. coralloides and M. esculenta. In P. ostreatus, only zeatin-O-glucoside was detected. The lowest IC50 was found for both the cytokinin fraction (0.21 μg/ml) and the crude extract (0.17 μg/ml) from mycelial biomass of H. coralloides. F. officinalis also demonstrated high antiproliferative effect against Colo 205 cells: IC50 was 0.9 μg/ml for the crude extract and almost twice lower for the cytokinin fraction. In the studied concentration range (0.016-2 μg/ml), the crude extracts from G. lucidum and M. esculenta and the cytokinin fraction from L. edodes did not reach IC50 values.CONCLUSIONS:The present study showed that crude extracts and/or cytokinin fractions of several medicinal Basidiomycetes species are capable to inhibit proliferation of colon cancer cells in vitro. Crude extract cytotoxicity of H. coralloides, P. ostreatus and T. versicolor was higher than that of cytokinin fraction while antiproliferative effect of cytokinin fraction from F. officinalis was higher than that in its crude extract.