Antitumor Activity of Extracts from Medicinal Basidiomycetes Mushrooms.

Aqueous extracts from the vegetative submerged mycelia of cultivated Basidiomycetes Ganoderma lucidum, Lentinus edodes, and Grifola frondosa, as well as from the fruiting bodies of G. lucidum, were found to have antitumor activity. The antitumor effect of the mycelial extracts from all 3 fungal species was ascertained in vivo in rats with implanted kidney cancer.