IPATIMUP integrates the i3S Research Unit, which is partially supported by FCT, the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology. This work is funded by FEDER funds through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness Factors-COMPETE and National Funds through the FCT-Foundation for Science and Technology, under the projects "PEst-C/SAU/LA0003/2013", NORTE-07-0162-FEDER-00018 - Contributos para o reforço da capacidade do IPATIMUP enquanto actor do sistema regional de inovação" and NORTE-07-0162-FEDER-000067 - Reforço e consolidação da capacidade infraestrutural do IPATIMUP para o sistema regional de inovação", both supported by Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2 – O Novo Norte), through FEDER funds under the Quadro de Referência Estratégico Nacional (QREN). Authors also thank COMPETE/QREN/EU for the financial support to CIMO (strategic project PEst-OE/AGR/UI0690/2014) and L. Barros. The authors also thank QREN for the grant of F.S. Reis (NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000023) and FCT for the grant of D. Sousa (SFRH/BD/98054/2013), Dr. Maria João Sousa for helping in the harvesting of samples.
The current work aimed to study the antitumour activity of a phenolic extract of the edible mushroom Leccinum vulpinum Watling, rich essentially in hydroxybenzoic acids. In a first approach, the mushroom extract was tested against cancer cell growth by using four human tumour cell lines. Given the positive results obtained in these initial screening experiments and the evidence of some studies for an inverse relationship between mushroom consumption and breast cancer risk, a detailed study of the bioactivity of the extract was carried out on MCF-7 cells. Once the selected cell line to precede the work was the breast adenocarcinoma cell line, the human breast non-malignant cell line MCF-10A was used as control. Overall, the extract decreased cellular proliferation and induced apoptosis. Furthermore, the results also suggest that the extract causes cellular DNA damage. Data obtained highlight the potential of mushrooms as a source of biologically active compounds, particularly with antitumour activity.
