Recently, selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) have become a new research target, since they were found to possess excellent bioavailability, low toxicity and remarkable anti-cancer activity.  Nevertheless, SeNPs aggregate easily and their anti-cancer activity will be significantly reduced, once their nano-size could not be maintained.  By using the mushroom polysaccharide-protein complexes (PSPs) isolated from the sclerotia of Pleurotus tuber-regium, highly stable SeNPs were successfully prepared under a simple food-grade redox system.  Besides, these novel SeNPs were found to remarkably inhibit the growth of human breast carcinoma MCF-7 cells by apoptosis induction in a dose-dependent manner, but were non-cytotoxic toward the normal cells.  Further investigation on its in vitro and in vivo anti-cancer activity at cellular and molecular levels is underway.  Findings of this study would not only facilitate the development of mushroom PSPs into new functional food ingredients to stabilize SeNPs, but also provide insights on using these novel SeNPs in cancer chemoprevention.

Mushroom sclerotium: A key to cancer prevention?

244th National Meeting (2012)

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