Samantha Seehagen Wanderley¹, Maria Luiza Carvalho Farias¹, Yuri Virgílio dos Santos¹, Renato Lúcio Mendes Alvarenga¹, Gardenia Carmen Gadelha Militão¹, Tatiana Baptista Gibertoni¹

Agaricomycetes have been used in traditional Asian medicine for over 3,000 years, particularly in China, Japan, and Thailand, where basidiomata and derivatives are applied in the prevention and treatment of various diseases. In contrast, their medicinal use in Western countries is mostly limited to functional foods and dietary supplements. With the growing need for alternative cancer treatments due to the high toxicity of many conventional drugs, research has turned toward finding safer and more effective therapeutic options. Several studies have highlighted the antitumor, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory properties of compounds from Agaricomycetes, indicating their strong potential as sources of pharmacologically active substances. Despite Brazil’s immense biodiversity, the biotechnological application of its native Agaricomycetes species remains largely underexplored. This study aimed to evaluate the antitumor activity of extracts from Brazilian Agaricomycetes, with a focus on specimens collected in the state of Pernambuco. The crude extracts of the tested species were obtained by soaking the basidiomes in a solution of 80 mL ethanol and 20 mL water for 168 hours, followed by rotary evaporation. The MTT assay was used to evaluate cytotoxic effects on three human cancer cell lines (K-562 chronic myelogenous leukemia, HCT-116 colon cancer, and H1299 lung cancer) and on normal lung fibroblast cells (MRC-5). Each sample was tested in duplicate across two independent experiments: (1) 75% inhibition single concentration assay and (2) half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) determination. A single predefined concentration of 50 μg/mL was used to assess the cytotoxic potential of the tested samples, while doxorubicin was tested as positive control. Samples with more than 75% inhibition were selected for the second experiment to determine IC50 values. As result, 12 poroid fungi were tested, among these, the specimen of Fomitopsis sp. was the only to exhibit 90% of cytotoxicity at 50 µg/mL, regardless of the tested cell line. These results suggest that the sample possesses promising cytotoxic potential, meeting the criteria established for further investigation of the present bioactive compounds. The Fomitopsis sp. presented IC50 of 30,5 μg/mL for K562; 38,9 μg/mL for H1299 and 31,7 μg/mL for HCT116. However, the specimen extract also showed stronger cytotoxic effects on the MRC-5 cells than on the cancer cell lines, with a IC50 value of 17,83 μg/mL, which may limit the therapeutic potential of this species. Thus, analysis of the present active compounds are necessary to indicate which one has activity against the different tested cell lines. Not many Fomitopsis species have been registered for antitumor activity, but Fomitopsis betulina has shown selective cytotoxicity against prostate cancer and melanoma cell lines while having minimal impact on healthy cells. Our results underscore the importance of investigating Brazil’s native fungal biodiversity as a valuable, yet underutilized, resource in the search for novel and more selective anticancer therapies.   

Agradecimentos: The authors would like to thank the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) for providing the infrastructure and institutional support necessary for this research. We also gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Fundação de Amparo à Ciência e Tecnologia do Estado de Pernambuco (FACEPE) and the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), which were essential for the development and execution of this study.