In vitro antitumor effects of methanolic extracts of three Ganoderema mushrooms

Ganoderma mushrooms have a variety of pharmacological activities and may have antitumor effects. Therefore, the antitumor activity of the methanolic fruiting body extracts of three Ganoderma spp. will be evaluated by estimating cell viability, cell cycle parameters and the mode of cellular death. In this regard, Sulfo-rhodamine B staining and flow cytometry were used. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) and breast ductal carcinoma (T-47D) cell lines were used as cancer models, while mouse normal liver (BNL) and oral epithelial cell (OEC) lines were used as respective controls. The results revealed that Ganoderma resinaceum extract decreased the viability of BNL at an IC₅₀ > 100 µg/mL but not that of HepG2 at an IC₅₀ of 72.32 µg/mL. Additionally, Ganoderma australe and Ganoderma mbrekobenum decreased the viability of OEC cell line at an IC₅₀ of 328.29 and 271.56 µg/ mL, respectively. On the other hand, the IC₅₀ of T-47D were 221.95 and 236.45 µg/mL, respectively. The three extracts arrested the cell life cycle at the G1 phase in each case. G. resinaceum extract stimulated total apoptosis (Q2 + Q4) of 19.99% with low necrosis (Q1). However, the percentages of total cell necrosis in the T-47D cell line treated with the other two extracts were 31.10% and 18.28%, respectively while the percentages of total cell apoptosis were 6.83% and 1.78%, respectively. Thus, G. resinaceum significantly inhibited the viability of the HepG2 cell line, while both the G. australe and G. mbrekobenum extracts significantly decreased the viability of the T-47D cell line. These results may encourage speculation about their possible use for the therapeutic management of hepatocellular carcinoma and breast ductal carcinoma after further investigation.