ANTITUMOR ACTIVE PROTEIN-CONTAINING GLYCANS FROM THE CHINESE MUSHROOM SONGSHAN-LINGZHI, GANODERMA-TSUGAE MYCELIUM

A water-soluble polysaccharide, FI, extracted from the mycelium of Ganoderma tsugae, was fractionated and purified by ion-exchange chromatography, gel filtration, and affinity chromatography. Sixteen polysaccharides obtained were examined for antitumor effects on Sarcoma 180 in mice. The three active polysaccharides obtained were as follows: FIO-a:A glycan-protein complex containing 9.3% protein, and having a hetero-glyco-chain of mannose and xylose. FIO-b-alpha: Molecular weight 10,000, glucan-protein complex containing 25.8% protein. The inhibition ratio was 61.8% against the solid cancer Sarcoma 180/mice; the survival ratio was more than 194% of the control group (100). FA-1-b-alpha: Molecular weight 16,000, a complex of glycan:protein=42:58 w/w, consisting of glucose as a main component, and associated with arabinose, mannose, xylose, and galactose. This had a tumor inhibition ratio of 56% and a survival ratio of more than 182%. Comparison of active glycan with the fruiting body and mycelium : Among water-soluble polysaccharides of fruiting body, FIO-a and FA-1, with antitumor activity, were both glucogalactan-protein complexes of molecular weight 10,000, but that of mycelium was a homoglucan protein complex in FIO-b-alpha and heteroglucan protein in both FA-1-a and FA-1-b-alpha. The heteroglucan had a low tumor inhibition ratio, but caused a high survival ratio in mice.