The Effects of Tiger Milk Mushroom Lignosus rhinocerus TM02® (Agaricomycetes) on Leukemogenicity Tyrosine Kinase Cell Lines

Leukemia can be a result of genetic changes associated with protein tyrosine kinase activity such as in MPL W515L and BCR/ABL genes. However, the current conventional treatment of leukemia produces severe side effects that urge the approach to use natural products. A medicinal mushroom,<i> Lignosus rhinocerus</i> shows potential as an anti-cancer treatment. To investigate the efficacy and mechanism of action of the <i>L. rhinocerus </i>cultivar (TM02^&reg;) extract on leukemogenic tyrosine kinase cell lines, a cold-water extract (CWE) was produced by using TM02^&reg; sclerotia powder at 4&deg;C. The carbohydrate and protein contents were found to be 77.24&#37; and 1.75&#37; respectively. In comparison to the normal Ba/F3 cell, the CWE TM02^&reg; shows significant effects on exhibiting proliferation of Ba/F3 expressed MPL W515L and BCR/ABL, possibly due to the presence of phenolic compounds and antioxidant properties of TM02^&reg;, which contribute to act on various signaling pathways, and the reported apoptotic activity of CWE TM02^&reg;. In contrast, CWE TM02^&reg; significantly exhibited high scavenging activity of both Ba/F3 expressed MPL W515L and BCR/ABL. At concentrations of 125 &mu;g/mL and 500 &mu;g/mL of CWE TM02^&reg; decreased 49.5&#37; and 67.5&#37; of cell migration activity of Ba/F3 expressed MPL W515L and BCR/ABL respectively. Therefore, we postulate that CWE TM02^&reg; has the capability to mediate the migration route of the leukemogenic tyrosine kinase cell lines.