Novel Medicinal Mushroom Blend as a Promising Supplement in Integrative Oncology: A Multi-Tiered Study using 4T1 Triple-Negative Mouse Breast Cancer Model

Abstract

Although medicinal mushroom extracts have been proposed as promising anti-cancer agents, their precise impacts on metastatic breast cancer are still to be clarified. For this purpose, the present study exploited the effect of a novel medicinal mushroom blend, namely Micotherapy U-care, in a 4T1 triple-negative mouse breast cancer model. Mice were orally administered with Micotherapy U-care<i>,</i> consisting of a mixture of <i>Agaricus</i> <i>blazei</i><i>, Ophiocordyceps</i> <i>sinensis</i><i>, Ganoderma</i> <i>lucidum,</i> <i>Grifola</i> <i>frondosa</i>, and <i>Lentinula</i> <i>edodes</i>. The syngeneic tumor-bearing mice were generated by injecting 4T1 cells in both supplemented and non-supplemented mice. After sacrifice 25 days later, specific endpoints and pathological outcomes of the murine pulmonary tissue were evaluated. (i) Histopathological and ultrastructural analysis and (ii) immunohistochemical assessment of TGF-ß1, IL-6 and NOS2, COX2, SOD1 as markers of inflammation and oxidative stress were performed. The QoL was comparatively evaluated. Micotherapy U-care supplementation, starting before 4T1 injection and lasting until the end of the experiment, dramatically reduced the pulmonary metastases density, also triggering a decrease of fibrotic response, and reducing IL-6, NOS, and COX2 expression. SOD1 and TGF-ß1 results were also discussed. These findings support the valuable potential of Micotherapy U-care as adjuvant therapy in the critical management of triple-negative breast cancer.