Research progress on antitumor activity of lentinan / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Lentinan (LNT) is isolated from the fruiting body of fungus Lentinus edodes. The main active ingredient is β-1,3-glucan, which has pivotal role in modulating immune response and inhibiting tumor cell growth. It has been widely applied in clinic for adjuvant antitumor therapy in increasing the efficacy of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, reducing toxic and side effects of antitumor therapy, and improving the body immunity and prognosis. LNT has achieved good curative effect in clinic, and it is widely used and deeply studied at home and abroad. This review aims to discuss the progress on the role of LNT in terms of immune modulation, inhibition of tumor cell proliferation, induction of apoptosis and autophagy of tumor cells, inhibition of tumor angiogenesis and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and the antitumor effect of compound of lentinan combined with multi-walled carbon nanotube (WMWCN) and antitumor drug, which could provide scientific reference for its future research related to the mechanism underlying the antitumor activity of lentinan.