Severe side effects of chemotherapy as well as drug resistance highlight the ongoing need to discover novel natural bioactive compounds with anticancer potentiality. Mushroom-derived proteins are among the naturally occurring compounds that have been the subject of a body of research on their potentiality in cancer therapy. The greatest attention in relevant review articles has been paid to well-known mushroom-derived glycoproteins such as lectins and protein-bound polysaccharide complexes such as polysaccharide-K (PSK) or krestin and polysaccharopeptide (PSP), which contain substantial amounts of carbohydrates (50–90%). These complex compounds exert their anticancer activity mainly by binding to cell membranes leading to extrinsic (death receptor) apoptosis or intrinsic (mitochondrial) apoptotic pathways. However, several other research studies have reported pure, well-characterized, proteins or peptides from mushrooms, which are carbohydrate-free or have very low amounts of carbohydrate. These proteins may fall into four categories including fungal immunomodulatory proteins, ubiquitin-like proteins, enzymes, and unclassified proteins. Well-defined chemical structure, elucidated full amino acid or N-terminal sequences, purity, and having some distinct and specific pathways compared to glycoproteins have made these low-carbohydrate proteins attractive for cancer research. The aim of this review was therefore to improve the current understanding of mushroom-derived low-carbohydrate proteins and to consolidate the existing knowledge of the most promising mushroom species from which low-carbohydrate proteins have been derived, characterized, and examined for their anticancer activity. In addition, molecular targets and mechanisms of action of these proteins have been discussed.

化学疗法的严重副作用以及耐药性凸显了对发现具有抗癌潜力的新型天然生物活性化合物的持续需求。蘑菇衍生的蛋白质是天然化合物中的一种，这些化合物已成为有关其在癌症治疗中潜力的研究机构。相关评论文章中最大的注意力已转移到众所周知的蘑菇衍生糖蛋白（例如凝集素）和蛋白质结合的多糖复合物（例如多糖-K（PSK）或krestin和多糖肽（PSP）），其中包含大量碳水化合物（ 50–90％）。这些复杂的化合物主要通过与细胞膜结合而发挥其抗癌活性，导致外在（死亡受体）凋亡或内在（线粒体）凋亡途径。然而，其他一些研究也报告了蘑菇中纯净，特征明确的蛋白质或多肽，它们不含碳水化合物或碳水化合物含量极低。这些蛋白可分为四类，包括真菌免疫调节蛋白，类泛素蛋白，酶和未分类蛋白。明确的化学结构，阐明的完整氨基酸或N端序列，纯度以及与糖蛋白相比具有一些独特的特异性途径，使得这些低碳水化合物的蛋白吸引了癌症研究。因此，本综述的目的是增进对蘑菇来源的低碳水化合物蛋白质的当前了解，并巩固从中衍生出低碳水化合物蛋白质的最有希望的蘑菇种类的现有知识，并检查其抗癌活性。另外，已经讨论了这些蛋白质的分子靶标和作用机理。