TABLE 1.
The biological functions and mechanisms of Ganoderma polysaccharides in cancer.
| Polysaccharide | Origin | Effect | Anticancer mechanism | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GLP | Ganoderma lucidum | Enhance radiation-mediated growth inhibition and apoptosis promotion in hepatocellular carcinoma | Inhibit the activity of DNA repair kinases ATM and DNA-PK | Yu et al. (2017) |
| WSG | Ganoderma lucidum | Decrease the viability and mobility of lung cancer cells | Inactivate EGF- and TGF-β-relevant signaling pathways | Hsu et al. (2020) |
| MEs(PS-GLP) | Ganoderma lucidum | Exhibit cytotoxicity toward lung cancer cells | Increase GLP accumulation in tumor tissues | Guo et al. (2018) |
| GDNB | Ganoderma lucidum | Repress the proliferation and motility and facilitate the apoptosis of lung cancer cells | Alleviate the expression of proliferation- and EMT-related proteins (Ki67, PCNA, N-cadherin, vimentin, Snail); Upregulate proapoptotic proteins Bax, cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved PARP, and downregulate the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 | Wang et al. (2019) |
| GLP | Ganoderma lucidum | Restrain the growth and migration of prostate cancer cells | Block the oncogenic PRMT6 signaling cascade and decrease the expression of migration-associated proteins FAK and FRC | Zhao et al. (2018) |
| WSG | Ganoderma lucidum | Facilitate the apoptosis of tongue cancer cells | Promote cell apoptosis by increasing the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio; block the EGFR/Atk signaling pathway | Hsu et al. (2021) |
| GAP | Ganoderma applanatum | Suppress the proliferation, invasion and migration and enhance the apoptosis of breast cancer cells | Increase the expression of autophagy-associated markers Beclin-1 and LC3; Impede the MAPK/ERK signaling pathway | Hanyu et al. (2020) |
| RSGLP | Ganoderma lucidum | Promote the apoptosis of gastric cancer cells | Downregulate Bcl-2 and pro-caspase-3 and upregulate cleaved PARP; elevate the expression of autophagy-related proteins (LC3-II and p62) | Zhong et al. (2021) |
| GLP | Ganoderma lucidum | Reinforce p53-induced apoptosis in colorectal cancer cells | Repair p53 ability to induce the expression of the downstream pro-apoptotic proteins Bax and p21 | Jiang et al. (2017) |
| EGLP | Ganoderma lucidum | Promote the apoptosis of colorectal cancer cells | Upregulate Bax, p-ERK and cleaved caspase-3; downregulate Bcl-2, p-Akt1 and COX-2 | Bai et al. (2020) |
| GLP | Ganoderma lucidum | Induce early stage autophagy in colorectal cancer cells | Increase the expression of LC3-II and p62 and promote autophagosome production; prevent the autophagosome-lysosome fusion; induce the MAPK/ERK signaling cascade | Pan et al. (2019) |
| EGLP | Ganoderma lucidum | Accelerate cervical cancer cell apoptosis | Diminish the expression of Bcl-2 and COX-2 and raise the expression of Bax and cleaved caspase-3 | Kong et al. (2019) |
| GLP | Ganoderma lucidum | Enhance the apoptosis and inhibit the aggressiveness of cervical cancer cells | Increase the expression of Bax, cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-9 and decrease the expression of Bcl-2; upregulate E-cadherin and downregulate N-cadherin, vimentin and Slug; retard the JAK/STAT5 signling pathway | Jin et al. (2020) |
| GLP | Ganoderma lucidum | Facilitate the apoptosis of cervical carcinoma cells | Increase Bax expression and reduce Bcl-2 expression | Zhu et al. (2019) |
| GLP | Ganoderma lucidum | Retard the viability and induce the apoptosis of prostate cancer cells | Enhance PARP cleavage and reduce the expression of pro-caspase-3, -6 and -9; suppress the MAPK/ERK signaling pathway | Wu et al. (2018) |
| GLP-Au | Ganoderma lucidum | Prevent breast cancer growth and metastasis | Exert strong immunostimulatory effects on T cell expansion via DC activation | Zhang et al. (2019a) |
| GLP-BiNP | Ganoderma lucidum | Inhibit breast cancer growth | Increase the count of intratumor CD8+ T cells and the ratio of IFN-γ to IL-4 in serum | Yu et al. (2019) |
| GLP | Ganoderma lucidum | Repress glioma growth | Stimulate the maturity of DCs and favor the proliferation of spleen lymphocytes | Wang et al. (2018) |
| GLP | Ganoderma lucidum | Prevent the development of lung cancer | Favor MDSC differentiation, T cell expansion and Th1 cytokine production | Wang et al. (2020) |
| GLP | Ganoderma lucidum | Inhibit melanoma growth | Reduce the count of CD68+ macrophages | Liu et al. (2021b) |
| GLP | Ganoderma lucidum | Suppress the proliferation of hepatocellular carcinoma cells | Promote primary macrophage polarization to M1 type; elevate the production of TGF-β1, TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 | Song et al. (2021) |
| GLP | Ganoderma lucidum | Prevent colorectal carcinogenesis | Improve the intestinal barrier function; increase the count of SCFA-producing bacteria (e.g., Alloprevotella rava, Bifidobacterium choerinum and Prevotella spp.) and decrease the count of sulfate-reducing bacteria (e.g., Desulfosporosinus spp. and Desulfotomaculum spp.) | Khan et al. (2019) |
| GLP | Ganoderma lucidum | Antagonize AOM/DSS-induced colorectal carcinogenesis | Increase the ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes and enrich the population of Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, Alistipes_finegoldii and Bacteroides_acidifaciens; alleviate the abundance of cancer-associated genera (Alistipes, Desulfovibrio, Lachnoclostridium, Oscillibacter and Parasutterella), Bifidobacterium_pseudolongum and Lactobacillus_reuteri | Guo et al. (2021a) |
| GLP | Ganoderma lucidum | Inhibit the viability and mobility of breast cancer cells | Reduce the ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes, the populations of Bacteroides and Lactobacillus; increase the abundance of the SCFA-producing Alistipe and the tumor-suppressive Prevotellaceae_UCG-001 | Li et al. (2018) |
| GSP | Ganoderma sinense | |||
| SGP | Ganoderma lucidum | Exhibit strong anticancer activity against breast cancer | Elevate the number of Bacteroides and Ruminococcus; decrease the number of cancer-related genera Desulfovibrio and Odoribacter | Su et al. (2018) |
| SGP | Ganoderma lucidum | Alleviate the adverse effect of the chemotherapeutic agent paclitaxel | Ameliorate chemotherapy-induced intestinal barrier injury; inhibit endotoxemia and elevate the expression of tight junction proteins (E-cadherin, β-catenin, occludin and ZO-1) | Li et al. (2020a) |
| GL-pp | Ganoderma lucidum | Retard melanoma metastasis | Increase the population of Bacteroides and decrease the population of Christensenellaceae, Desulfovibrio, Odoribacter and Parvibacter | Xian et al. (2021) |
| GLP | Ganoderma lucidum | Improve therapeutic responsiveness of oral squamous cell carcinoma cells | Lower the expression of CSC, EMT and chemosensitivity markers (BMI1, p75NGFR, twist, N-cadherin and ABCB1) | de Camargo et al. (2022) |
| WSG | Ganoderma lucidum | Enhance lung cancer cell susceptibility to cisplatin | Augment cisplatin-induced apoptotic responses | Qiu et al. (2021) |