Cellular and Molecular Mechanism of Ganoderma (Lingzhi) Against Tumor

The anticancer potential of Ganoderma (Lingzhi) and its extracts has been widely demonstrated, including antiproliferative and apoptosis inductive, antimetastatic, antiangiogenic, and multidrug resistance reversional activities, involving a variety of cellular and molecular mechanisms besides antitumor immunology. Intrinsic- and extrinsic-initiated apoptotic pathway in association with cell cycle arresting, telomerase inhibiting, autophagy, and oxidative stress is involved in the antiproliferative and apoptosis inductive activities of Ganoderma and its extracts. The inhibition of tumor cell adhesion, invasion, and migration by Ganoderma and its extracts involves molecular mechanisms such as AP-1, NF-κB, MMP, cadherin, β-integrin, c-Met, FAK, EMT, and so on. Targeting the major pro-angiogenic stimulus, VEGF, and its receptor contributes to the inhibition of tumor angiogenesis by Ganoderma and its extracts. Inhibition against the ATP-dependent transmembrane drug transporter such as P-glycoprotein (P-gp) on the surface of resistant tumor cells to prevent reduction of the intracellular accumulation of anticancer drugs by pumping out the drugs plays an important role in the activities of Ganoderma and its extracts to reverse tumor cell multidrug resistance.