In the wide field of nutraceuticals, the effects of mushrooms on immunity, cancer and including autoimmunity have been proposed for centuries but in recent years a growing interest has led scientists to elucidate which specific compounds have bioactive properties and through which mechanisms. Glucans and specific proteins are responsible for most of the biological effects of mushrooms, particularly in terms of immunomodulatory and anti-tumor results. Proteins with bioactive effects include lectins, fungal immunomodulatory proteins (FIPs), ribosome inactivating proteins (RIPs), ribonucleases, laccases, among others. At the present status of knowledge, numerous studies have been performed on cell lines and murine models while only a few clinical trials have been conducted. As in most cases of dietary components, the multitude of variables implicated in the final effect and an inadequate standardization are expected to affect the observed differences, thus making the available evidence insufficient to justify the treatment of human diseases with mushrooms extracts. We will herein provide a comprehensive review and critically discussion the biochemical changes induced by different mushroom compounds as observed in in vitro studies, particularly on macrophages, dendritic cells, T cells, and NK cells, compared to in vivo and human studies. Additional effects are represented by lipids which constitute a minor part of mushrooms but may have a role in reducing serum cholesterol levels or phenols acting as antioxidant and reducing agents. Human studies provide a minority of available data, as well illustrated by a placebo-controlled study of athletes treated with β-glucan from Pleurotus ostreatus. Variables influencing study outcomes include different mushrooms strains, growing conditions, developmental stage, part of mushroom used, extraction method, and storage conditions. We foresee that future rigorous research will be needed to determine the potential of mushroom compounds for human health to reproduce the effects of some compounds such as lentinan which a metaanalysis demonstrated to increase the efficacy of chemotherapy in the treatment of lung cancer and in the improvement of the patients quality of life.

在广泛的营养保健品领域，蘑菇对免疫、癌症和包括自身免疫的影响已被提出了几个世纪，但近年来，科学家们越来越感兴趣，以阐明哪些特定化合物具有生物活性以及通过哪些机制。葡聚糖和特定蛋白质负责蘑菇的大部分生物学效应，特别是在免疫调节和抗肿瘤结果方面。具有生物活性作用的蛋白质包括凝集素、真菌免疫调节蛋白 (FIP)、核糖体失活蛋白 (RIP)、核糖核酸酶、漆酶等。在目前的知识水平上，已经对细胞系和小鼠模型进行了大量研究，而仅进行了少数临床试验。与大多数膳食成分的情况一样，预计最终效果中涉及的众多变量和不充分的标准化会影响观察到的差异，从而使现有证据不足以证明用蘑菇提取物治疗人类疾病的合理性。我们将在此提供一个全面的回顾和批判性讨论由不同蘑菇化合物引起的生化变化，如在与体内和人体研究相比，体外研究，特别是巨噬细胞、树突细胞、T 细胞和 NK 细胞。其他作用由构成蘑菇的一小部分的脂质代表，但可能在降低血清胆固醇水平或作为抗氧化剂和还原剂的酚类中起作用。人体研究提供了少数可用数据，一项安慰剂对照研究也说明了运动员接受平菇β-葡聚糖治疗的情况. 影响研究结果的变量包括不同的蘑菇菌株、生长条件、发育阶段、使用的蘑菇部分、提取方法和储存条件。我们预计，未来需要进行严格的研究来确定蘑菇化合物对人类健康的潜力，以重现一些化合物（如香菇多糖）的效果，一项荟萃分析表明，香菇多糖可提高化疗在治疗肺癌和改善肺癌方面的疗效。患者的生活质量。