Study finds mushroom derived drug may help fight cancer A British study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry says that a drug derived from a mushroom used in traditional Chinese medicine and first scientifically identified in the West in the1950s could be made more effective in the fight against cancer. The research wa... A British study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry says that a drug derived from a mushroom used in traditional Chinese medicine and first scientifically identified in the West in the1950s could be made more effective in the fight against cancer. The research was carried out by a team at the University of Nottingham in the UK and was funded by two British-based research organisations: the Wellcome Trust and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), which is part of Research Councils UK. Called cordycepin, the drug was originally derived from cordyceps - a rare parasitic mushroom that grows on caterpillars - but is now prepared in a cultivated form. Western scientists were originally drawn to studying the cordyceps mushroom after hearing of the positive qualities attributed to it by traditional Chinese medicine. The first Western study of cordyceps was published in 1950 but the substance was found to degrade too quickly in the body to be of real benefit to cancer patients. This has now been overcome and the drug can be administered with another drug to offset this problem. While the second drug has side effects, scientists now know much more about how cordyceps works. The University of Nottingham's Dr Cornelia de Moor, who led the research, said: 'Our discovery will open up the possibility of investigating the range of different cancers that could be treated with cordycepin. We have also developed a very effective method that can be used to test new, more efficient or more stable versions of the drug in the Petri dish. This is a great advantage as it will allow us to rule out any non-runners before anyone considers testing them.' The University of Nottingham team noticed two specific effects of cordycepin on cancer cells. Firstly, at low doses it inhibits the growth and division of cells, and at higher doses it prevents cells from sticking together, which has the same inhibiting effect. Secondly, cordycepin has an effect on how cells make proteins. At low doses it interferes with the production of mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid), the molecule that instructs the body how to make a protein, and at higher doses it has a direct effect on how the proteins are made. 'Because of technical obstacles and people moving on to other subjects, it's taken a long time to figure out exactly how cordycepin works on cells,' continued Dr de Moor. 'With this knowledge, it will be possible to predict what types of cancers might be sensitive and what other cancer drugs it may effectively combine with. It could also lay the groundwork for the design of new cancer drugs that work on the same principle.' Countries United Kingdom
