Bioactive natural small molecules from mushrooms as potential source of anticancer agents

Abstract

Recently, drugs obtained from natural products have attracted great interest as potential therapeutic agents in cancer treatment due to their lesser side effects and low toxicity. Mushrooms are one of the natural sources containing various bioactive compounds with antioxidant, anticancer, antidiabetic, antimicrobial, hepatoprotective, antitumor, antiviral, and immunomodulatory properties. This chapter reviews the anticancer metabolites of low-molecular weight from mushroom species. Low-molecular-weight metabolites have the ability to go into the cell and affect or interfere with the biological processes therein. Research both in vivo and in vitro has reported that such compounds derived from natural sources are efficient in inhibiting cancer growth and metastasis. Low molecular weight cytotoxic molecules such as pulveraven A, roridin E, 12′-episatratoxin H, trichoverritone, astrakurkurone, inotodiol, GL22, lepiotaprocerins H, G, L, vulpinic acid, grifolin, craterellyne I, phellibarin D, trichodermol, 8-deoxytrichothecin, trichothecin, trichothecinol B, trichothecinol A, atractylenolide I, terreumol A, flammulinolides A, B, C, F, jiangxienone, aurisin A, ergosta‐7,22‐diene‐2β,3α,9α‐triol, hypoxylonols D, E, and neogrifolin have been purified from various mushroom species. In this chapter, the compounds (1–257) with anticancer activity isolated from 61 different mushroom species in the last 2 decades were evaluated. Further, triterpenoids, steroids, steroidal alcohols, phenolic compounds, sesquiterpenes, meroterpenoids, p-terphenyls, ergostanes, alkaloids, fatty acids, cerebrosides, furanones, disulfide compounds, butanolides, aromatic compounds, organic acids, benzo[j]fluoranthene derivatives and cyclopeptides indicating cytotoxic activity toward various cancer cell lines from mushrooms were reported here.