Mushrooms as a source of compounds that induce programmed cell death in tumour cells
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D. Sousa and R.T.Lima for critical comments to the Figures. QREN for the
grant of F.S.Reis (NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000023). IPATIMUP is an
Associate Laboratory of the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology
and Higher Education and is partially supported by Fundação para a
Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT).
One of the hallmarks of cancer is the ability of tumour cells to resist cell
death. Consequently, therapies based on the induction of programmed cell
death (PCD) constitute an area of scientific interest. Mushrooms are a
demonstrated source of extracts and compounds with antitumour properties.
One of such properties is the capacity to induce PCD. This chapter reviews
the existing evidence of mushroom extracts inducing apoptosis or autophagy
in human tumour cell lines and focuses on the identified compounds that
are responsible for those cellular activities including the known pathways
involved. This chapter is intended to identify the most bioactive classes of
compounds and the cell lines in which they exert their activity. This
information aims to present the basis for future works, in order to obtain or
create new therapies for the treatment of cancer, including pharmaceutical
and/or nutraceutical products.
