CURRENT TOPICS IN NUTRACEUTICAL RESEARCH Vol.10,No.1,Pp.1-12,2012 ISSN 1540-7535 print,Copyright 2012 by New Century Health Publishers,LLC www.newcenturyhealthpublishers.com All rights of reproduction in any form reserved IMMUNOMODULATORY EFFECTS of FUNGAL PROTEINS Xue-fei Wang,Kai-qi Su,Ting-wen Bao,Wei-ran Cong,Yun-fei Chen,Qi-zhang Li and Xuan-wei Zhou Plant Biotechnology Research Center,Shanghai Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology,School of Agriculture and Biology, Fudan-SJTU-Nottingham Plant Biotechnology R&D Center,Shanghai Jiao Tong University,Shanghai 200240,China. [Received May 8,2011;Accepted December 31,2011] ABSTRACT:For centuries,mushrooms have been found to mushrooms have high nutritional value and various be a rich source ofbioactive compounds for treatment of various pharmacological properties,which imply a high therapeutic diseases.Ganoderma spp.has long been used in traditional capability (Liu et al,2002). Chinese medicines or functional foods in Japan and other Asian Mushrooms play a very important role in shaping the traditional countries.Crude extracts and isolated substances such as Chinese culture.Application of mushroom as traditional Chinese polysaccharides,polysaccharo-peptides,polysaccharide-proteins medicine (TMC)and health care food may be dated back to and proteins display both in vivo and in vitro 3,000 BC (Before Century).The bioactive constituents of immunomodulatory activities.Therefore,mushrooms have mushrooms include polysaccharide,glycopeptide,proteoglycans, attracted attention in research and pharmaceutical fields.In protein,terpene compounds,steroid,alkaloid,pigment,quinone, this review,an attempt has been made to summarize the lipoid,cyclopeptide and non-protein amino acid (Zeng et al., information on the fungal immunomodulatory proteins 2006).These substances play an increasingly important role in including the protein coding genes and protein structures,with prevention and treatment of human diseases.According to an emphasis put on their immunomodulation functions and previous reports,medicinal mushrooms have 126 different kinds future perspectives. of pharmacological functions including antitumor, immunomodulatory,antioxidant,radical scavenging,antiviral, KEY WORDS:Encoding Gene,Fungal Immunomodulatory antibacterial,antiparasitic,antifungal properties,as well as Protein,Immunomodulatory Activity,Mushroom,Structural protective roles in cardiovascular system.Meanwhile some of Characteristic active components have detoxification,hepatoprotective and antidiabetic effects (Wasser,2011). Corresponding Author:Dr.Xuan-wei Zhou,Plant Many bioactive substances of mushrooms have Biotechnology Research Center,School of Agriculture immunomodulation functions.These substances include and Biology,Fudan-SJTU-Nottingham Plant polysaccharides,protein,terpenes and sterols etc.Special Biotechnology R&D Center,Shanghai Jiao Tong University, attentions are paid to the bioactive polysaccharides and proteins Shanghai 200240,P.R.China;Fax:+86-21-65642425, (Wichers,2009).The polysaccharides,B(1->3)-D-glucans and Email:xuanweizhou@sjtu.edu.cn or xuanweizhou@163.com derivates,and sugar-modified proteins are intensively studied for their immunomodulatory activities.Nevertheless,the mechanism INTRODUCTION of action is still unclear(Moradali et al.,2007).A number of Mushroom,also called as macrofungi,is a kind of fungi types of protein components also show immunomodulatory with large fruiting bodies.Mushrooms are characterized by their action.Among them,fugal immunomodulatory proteins(FIPs) typical fruiting bodies with various shapes,sizes and colors.Typical receive the greatest attention Zhou et al.,2005;Zhou et al., mushrooms look like umbrellas.They consist ofa stalk topped by 2007;Sun et al.,2009).These immunostimulatory effects are a flat or cup-shaped cap,a stipe (including collarium and volva) shown in the aspect of promoting mitosis and the differentiation and mycelia.It is estimated that there are about 140,000 genera of hematopoietic stem cells,as well as activating of immune effector of mushroom on earth.Among them,15,000 genera cells such as human peripheral blood mononuclear cells(hPBMC) (approximately 10%of the gross)are well known.Most of the (Wasser,2002;Berovic et al,2003;Jin et al.,2003;Lull et al., mushrooms belong to Basidiomycotina,a few belong to 2005).Based on previous reports,this paper specifically addresses Ascomycotina that is also an important group of fungi.Some of the immunomodulating activities of FIPs.ABSTRACT: For centuries, mushrooms have been found to be a rich source of bioactive compounds for treatment of various diseases. Ganoderma spp. has long been used in traditional Chinese medicines or functional foods in Japan and other Asian countries. Crude extracts and isolated substances such as polysaccharides, polysaccharo-peptides, polysaccharide-proteins and proteins display both in vivo and in vitro immunomodulatory activities. Therefore, mushrooms have attracted attention in research and pharmaceutical fields. In this review, an attempt has been made to summarize the information on the fungal immunomodulatory proteins including the protein coding genes and protein structures, with an emphasis put on their immunomodulation functions and future perspectives. KEY WORDS: Encoding Gene, Fungal Immunomodulatory Protein, Immunomodulatory Activity, Mushroom, Structural Characteristic Corresponding Author: Dr. Xuan-wei Zhou, Plant Biotechnology Research Center, School of Agriculture and Biology, Fudan-SJTU-Nottingham Plant Biotechnology R&D Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, P.R. China; Fax: +86-21-65642425, Email: xuanweizhou@sjtu.edu.cn or xuanweizhou@163.com INTRODUCTION Mushroom, also called as macrofungi, is a kind of fungi with large fruiting bodies. Mushrooms are characterized by their typical fruiting bodies with various shapes, sizes and colors. Typical mushrooms look like umbrellas. They consist of a stalk topped by a flat or cup-shaped cap, a stipe (including collarium and volva) and mycelia. It is estimated that there are about 140,000 genera of mushroom on earth. Among them, 15,000 genera (approximately 10% of the gross) are well known. Most of the mushrooms belong to Basidiomycotina, a few belong to Ascomycotina that is also an important group of fungi. Some of IMMUNOMODULATORY EFFECTS of FUNGAL PROTEINS Xue-fei Wang, Kai-qi Su, Ting-wen Bao, Wei-ran Cong, Yun-fei Chen, Qi-zhang Li and Xuan-wei Zhou Plant Biotechnology Research Center, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, School of Agriculture and Biology, Fudan-SJTU-Nottingham Plant Biotechnology R&D Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China. [Received May 8, 2011; Accepted December 31, 2011] CURRENT TOPICS IN NUTRACEUTICAL RESEARCH Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 1-12, 2012 ISSN 1540-7535 print, Copyright © 2012 by New Century Health Publishers, LLC www.newcenturyhealthpublishers.com All rights of reproduction in any form reserved mushrooms have high nutritional value and various pharmacological properties, which imply a high therapeutic capability (Liu et al., 2002). Mushrooms play a very important role in shaping the traditional Chinese culture. Application of mushroom as traditional Chinese medicine (TMC) and health care food may be dated back to 3,000 BC (Before Century). The bioactive constituents of mushrooms include polysaccharide, glycopeptide, proteoglycans, protein, terpene compounds, steroid, alkaloid, pigment, quinone, lipoid, cyclopeptide and non- protein amino acid (Zeng et al., 2006). These substances play an increasingly important role in prevention and treatment of human diseases. According to previous reports, medicinal mushrooms have 126 different kinds of pharmacological functions including antitumor, immunomodulatory, antioxidant, radical scavenging, antiviral, antibacterial, antiparasitic, antifungal properties, as well as protective roles in cardiovascular system. Meanwhile some of active components have detoxification, hepatoprotective and antidiabetic effects (Wasser, 2011). Many bioactive substances of mushrooms have immunomodulation functions. These substances include attentions are paid to the bioactive polysaccharides and proteins (Wichers, 2009). The polysaccharides, β (1->3)-D-glucans and derivates, and sugar-modified proteins are intensively studied for their immunomodulatory activities. Nevertheless, the mechanism of action is still unclear (Moradali et al., 2007). A number of types of protein components also show immunomodulatory action. Among them, fugal immunomodulatory proteins (FIPs) receive the greatest attention ( Zhou et al., 2005; Zhou et al., 2007; Sun et al., 2009). These immunostimulatory effects are shown in the aspect of promoting mitosis and the differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells, as well as activating of immune effector cells such as human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (hPBMC) (Wasser, 2002; Berovic et al., 2003; Jin et al., 2003; Lull et al., 2005). Based on previous reports, this paper specifically addresses the immunomodulating activities of FIPs. polysaccharides, protein, terpenes and sterols etc. Special