Chengo JK, Adipo N, Kiboi DM, Lusweti JM, Mwatha J, Mwitari PG, Ngule CM and Njagi SM
Cancer is a major public health burden in both developed and developing countries. The current conventional cancer therapies like chemotherapy are expensive and inaccessible to many cancer patients. Commercial and wild edible mushrooms are becoming more important for their nutritional value and are becoming an alternative source of immune modulation and anticancer agents. Although Previous studies with Trametes versicolor mushroom from various parts of the world have demonstrated antiproliferative activity on various cancer cell lines, the antiproliferative activity of the recently identified Kenyan T. versicolor mushroom have not been studied. This study examined the in vitro antiproliferative activity of an aqueous extract of the Kenyan T. versicolor mushroom on breast cancer (4T1), prostate cancer (DU145), hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), rat normal intestinal epithelial cells (IEC-6) and African green monkey normal kidney (vero) cell lines using MTT assay. The results demonstrated that the T. versicolor extract at 1.37 μg/ml to 1000 μg/ml dose-dependently inhibited the proliferation of DU145 and 4T1cell lines with IC50 values: DU145 (71.2 μg/ml) and 4T1 (188.5 μg/ml). The extract however did not exert any significant antiproliferative effect on HCC, IEC-6 and Vero cell lines (IC50˃1000 μg/ml) when compared with a chemotherapeutic anticancer drug, tamoxifen (p<0.05), confirming the tumor-selective cytotoxicity on cancer cell lines and its safety on normal cell lines. In all cell lines, the extract showed a significant difference in inhibition of cell proliferation between the untreated cells and the highest concentration (1000 μg/ml) (p<0.05). Presence of phytochemicals such as saponins, tannins, steroids, terpenoids and flavonoids in the T. vesicolor extract used might be the probable reason for its antiproliferative activity.
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