Coriolus Versicolor, also known as Trametes Versicolor or Polyporus Versicolor, is commonly called Turkey Tail. This mushroom rises from lignocellulosic wastes and has a fan-shaped wavy margin, and may exist in nature in several different colors. Both extracellular and intracellular polysaccharides of C. Versicolor are physiologically active as bioactive compounds. Two polysaccharides, polysaccharopeptide (PSP) and polysaccharopeptide Krestin (PSK), were isolated from C. Versicolor and used as a supplement to support chemotherapy and radiotherapy of cancers due to its immunostimulatory properties. Furthermore, it seems that these polysaccharides may also act as prebiotics by stimulating the growth and activity of probiotic bacteria in the colon. [1-5]
Polysaccharides isolated from C. Versicolor have demonstrated antitumor activity in the past. In vitro studies showed that PSP acts selectively against specific tumor cells. Thus, it has been reported that C. Versicolor extract, at the concentration of 1 mg/mL applied directly in human cancer lines, inhibited their growth, namely gastric cancer, lung cancer, leukemia, and lymphoma. Moreover, PSP is active against Ehrlich ascites carcinoma, sarcoma 180, and leukemia P388. However, not all tumor cells appeared to respond to C. Versicolor polysaccharopeptides [6-9]
