Cancer is the second leading cause of mortality globally after cardiovascular
diseases. It is attributed to various genetic and epigenetic changes in the genome, while
lifestyle and environmental factors have a say in its rate of progression. Conventional
agents like chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgical interventions though successful to
some extent, are always associated with toxic side effects. A promising alternative
could be herbs that form a part of our daily consumption. Mushrooms consumed
worldwide have been found to be a treasure of macromolecules like β-glucan, α-glucan,
resveratrol, concanavalin A, cibacron blue affinity protein, p-hydroxybenzoic acid,
ergosterol, linoleic acid, etc. that are responsible for mediating anti-tumor,
immunomodulatory, antioxidant and anti-diabetic roles. Various experiments have
demonstrated the potential of mushrooms as an anti-cancer agent. This chapter
summarizes the effect of mushroom extracts and bioactive constituents against various
hallmarks of cancer like sustained proliferation, evading apoptosis, angiogenesis,
immune evasion and metastasis, along with underlying mechanisms. At the end of the
chapter, we also talked about what still can be done and where we need to focus so that
future studies can add to the already existing knowledge about this natural reservoir of
anti-cancer compounds.
Keywords: Anti-angiogenic, Anti-apoptotic, Antimetastatic, Antiproliferative, Mushroom.
