Effect of edible basidiomycete fruit body extracts on induced liver tumour in mice

Abstract

Cancer is associated with uncontrolled cell growth in tissues and organs and can either be localized or spread to other organs. Hepatocellular carcinoma results when these cells are localized in the liver and it's widely distributed in different geographical areas with a high prevalence in sub-Saharan African, southern Asia, China and Japan. In Kenya, poor storage of grains and consumption of donated maize occasionally predisposes a section of the rural population to aflatoxin induced hepatoccelullar carcinoma that if not checked may reach epidemic levels. Cancer diagnosis is undergoing experimentation to date, prognosis largely inaccurate due to unreliability of tumour markers and cost of treatment is prohibitive to large majority of the population. In addition, side effects of conventional anti-cancer radiation or chemotherapy are devastating as they lead to hair loss, loss of fertility and general weakening of the body's immune system thereby increasing a patient's risk to infection. There is therefore a need to develop additional ways of improving on, or supplementing the existing methods of cancer diagnosis, assessment of prognosis and overall management. .... The objective of this study was to determine the effect of basidiomycete extracts on induced liver tumour in mice. 30 mice aged 3-4 weeks (5 males and 5 females) were selected and divided into 3 groups of 10. Group 1 mice were fed on carcinogen; Diethylnitrosoamine (DENA) and mice pellets only, group 2 on carcinogen, Agaricus bisporus extracts and mice pellets, while Group 3 mice were fed on carcinogen, Pleura/us pulmonarius extracts and mice pellets. Liver tumour was induced by injecting DENA at a dose of 1Oug/kg body weight. and mice were, therafter fed on 0.01% DENA ad libitum from 3rJ to l31h week as the only drinking water. Mice were bled every 3 weeks and sera used to determine activities of tumour marker levels; alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminas (AST), lactate dehydrogenase (LOB), sialic acid (SA) and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). Development and progression of carcinogenesis was also monitored by histology. Results showed that, mushroom extracts inhibited carcinogenesis suggesting that they could be useful as supplementary adjuvants to other forms of cancer therapy. Based on the data presented on this thesis, I recommend that the public be educated on safe storage of food grains and encouraged to include mushroom in their diet as a preventive measure not only against cancer, but also to other diseases and that future studies be designed to test therapeutic capability of other indigenous basidiomycetes.