Coprinus comatus and Ganoderma lucidum interfere with androgen receptor function in LNCaP prostate cancer cells

In this study, we screened a total of 201 diethyl ether, ethanol, and ethyl acetate fungal Basidiomycetes extracts for anti-androgenic activity. Based on our screened results in combination with the selective inhibition of prostate cancer LNCaP cells, we selected Coprinus comatus and Ganoderma lucidum for further evaluation. We demonstrated that ethanol and ethyl acetate extracts from C. comatus and G. lucidum, respectively, selectively inhibit dihydrotestosterone-induced LNCaP cell viability, suppress levels of secreted prostate-specific antigen in a dose-dependent manner, and cause a G1 phase arrest in LNCaP, but not in DU 145 and PC-3 cells. For the first time, to the best of our knowledge, we demonstrated that C. comatus and G. lucidum decreased androgen and glucocorticoide receptors transcriptional activity in breast cancer MDA-kb2 cells in a dose-dependent manner, and suppressed androgen receptor (AR) protein level in LNCaP and MDA-kb2 cells. Our findings suggest that AR and non-AR mediated mechanisms underlie the effects of C. comatus and G. lucidum.