From Mushrooms to Molecules: Exploring Depsidones in Ganoderma lucidum for Antioxidant and Anticancer Applications
- Author: mycolabadmin
- 9/8/2025
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Summary
Researchers studied a medicinal mushroom called Ganoderma lucidum to identify compounds that could fight cancer. They found nine rare compounds called depsidones that showed promise against different types of cancer cells, including liver, colon, breast, and lung cancer. The compounds were shown to work by binding to cancer-related proteins, suggesting they could be developed into new cancer treatments.
Background
Ganoderma lucidum is a medicinal mushroom with extensive therapeutic use in traditional medicine, containing over 200 polysaccharides and 400 secondary metabolites. Depsidones are a rare class of bioactive compounds seldom reported in mushrooms with significant biological potential.
Objective
To investigate the phytochemical composition of different solvent extracts of G. lucidum, characterize rare depsidone compounds, assess antioxidant and anticancer potential, and provide mechanistic insights into their biological activities.
Results
Ethyl acetate extract showed highest phenolic yield and antioxidant potential with IC50 of 39.87 µg/mL. Nine depsidone compounds were identified including mollicellin G, simplicildone I, and mollicellin B. The extract demonstrated notable anticancer activity against HepG2, HCT116, MCF7, and A549 with minimal toxicity to normal Vero cells, with strong binding affinities to cancer targets AKT1, CDK2, ERK1, and TNFα.
Conclusion
G. lucidum is a promising source of therapeutic depsidones for anticancer drug development. Molecular docking revealed strong binding interactions between identified depsidones and cancer-related targets, supporting the observed bioactivity. These findings provide mechanistic insights into the anticancer and antioxidant properties of this medicinal fungus.
- Published in:Molecules,
- Study Type:Experimental Research,
- Source: PMID: 40942174, DOI: 10.3390/molecules30173650