Sparassis crispa is an edible and a medicinal mushroom, which commonly called cauliflower mushroom and this mushroom, has recently become popular in Asian countries like Korea and Japan. S. crispa can establish to be a good source material for foods and nutraceuticals due to their rich flavor compounds and much amount of b-glucan. Basidiomycetes mushrooms hold the biologically active polysaccharides in fruit bodies, cultured mycelium, and culture broth. Many factors are amenable for the antitumor activities of polysaccharides such as water solubility, molecular size and their branch form. The antitumor activity was examined mainly in the β-glucan (1-3) branched moiety. The researchers suggest that the primary structure of purified β-glucan from the S. crispa possess the backbone structural units as β-(1,3)-D-glucan with single β- (1,6)-D-glucosyl side branching units in every three residues. Polysaccharide derived from S. crispa play an significant role in the antitumor activity. In vitro study revealed that the oral administration of S. crispa β -glucan results in suppressive effect on tumor growth and metastasis in lung cancer through the inhibition of tumor induced-angiogenesis. The researchers also suggests that this effects are not a result of direct action on the endothelial cells because cell growth, migration and capillary-like tube formation were not affected in the human umbilical vein endothelial cells by S. crispa β-glucan application.

• Hyun-Jae Shin(Department of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, Chosun University, Gwangju, Korea)