Contents of Anti-Tumor Polysaccharides in Certain Mushrooms and Their Immunomodulating Activities.

We measured the contents of anti-tumor polysaccharides in certain mushrooms using the two kinds of antibodies that specifically recognize lentinan and GGF, which were isolated from Lentinus edodes and Grifola frondosa, respectively, as β-glucans of these polysaccharides. To determine which mushrooms showed immunomodulating activity, the TNF-α and NO productions of mouse peritoneal macrophages and the subset analysis of splenic lymphocytes stimulated with a polysaccharide from each mushroom were examined. It was ascertained that polysaccharides from mushrooms that enhanced NO production also elicited TNF-α production and that mushrooms containing the positive polysaccharides to anti-lentinan and anti-GGF antibodies at least augmented the production of TNF-α and NO. Furthermore, the polysaccharides from Fammulina velutipes and Meripilus giganteu increased lymphocyte T cell subsets. Therefore, we demonstrated that those polysaccharides had high levels of immunomodulating activity.