Leccinum vulpinum antitumor potential: which cell biological functions may be affected?
Conference Paper
Overview
Overview
abstract
Besides being an excellent choice as food for their high nutritional value, mushrooms
have been identified as products with bioactive properties, including antitumor
potential.
Herein, a phenolic extract, obtained from the edible mushroom Leccinum vulpinum
Watling, which was rich essentially in hydroxybenzoic acids (i.e., gallic acid,
protocatechuic acid and p-hydroxybenzoic acid) was analyzed. The extract was tested
against a panel of four different human tumor cell lines (MCF-7, NCI-H460, HCT-15
and AGS), to perform an initial screening of its impact on the growth of these cells.
Since the proliferation of all the tumor cell lines was inhibited, and given the evidence
of an inverse relationship between mushroom’s consumption and breast cancer risk
reduction [1], a detailed study was performed on breast adenocarcinoma cells. Some
functional assays were carried out, namely cell proliferation, cell cycle profile and
apoptosis. The potential of the extract as an inducer of DNA damage was also
evaluated. Overall, the extract decreased the cellular proliferation (cells treated with
the GI75 concentration of the extract reduced significantly the percentage of cells in the
S-phase) and induced apoptosis (cells treated with the GI50 concentration of the extract
increased the percentage of cells undergoing apoptosis to 13.4% and cells treated with
the GI75 concentration increased that percentage to 27%). The obtained results
suggest that the extract also causes cellular DNA damage, since some proteins
involved in the repair of DNA damage (PARP), are increased. Through the Comet
assay, a significant increase of the percentage of Tail DNA upon treatment with 250
mg/mL of the extract, was also observed.
IPATIMUP integrates the i3S Research Unit, which is partially supported by FCT,
the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT). The authors are grateful to FCT for the
grant of F.S. Reis (SFRH/BD/111753/2015), D. Sousa (SFRH/BD/98054/2013), and FCT and FEDER
for CIMO (UID/AGR/00690/2013) support.
