Dr. Cornelia de Moor and her research team from The University of Nottingham have devised a new method for investigating a novel cancer drug called cordycepin - originally derived from the mushroom, Cordyceps. This rare, and strange parasitic fungus, grows on caterpillars - and has long been used as a ingredient in Chinese medicines. Properties attributed to the cordyceps mushroom have made it an interesting target of study for decades - however, cordycepin proved to be quickly degraded in the body so it's effects on cells could never be determined. To help slow down the degradation of cordycepin in vivo, a second drug could be administered - but the side effects of the second drug proved to be a limit to its potential use.

Dr. de Moor and her team have "developed a very effective method that can be used to test new, more efficient or more stable versions of the drug in the Petri dish. This is a great advantage as it will allow us to rule out any non-runners before anyone considers testing them in animals.”

So far the team has been able to observe two effects of cordycepin on cells: at low doses, cordycepin inhibits uncontrolled growth and division; and at higher doses it prevents cells from sticking together - which also inhibits cell growth. They theorize that both of these effects most likely have the same underlying mechanism - that cordycepin interferes with how cells make proteins.

Dr. de Moor went on to say; “because of technical obstacles and people moving on to other subjects, it’s taken a long time to figure out exactly how cordycepin works on cells. With this knowledge, it will be possible to predict what types of cancers might be sensitive and what other cancer drugs it may effectively combine with. It could also lay the groundwork for the design of new cancer drugs that work on the same principle.”

Source: http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/media/releases/2009/091223-new-insights-mushroom-...

Abstract: http://www.jbc.org/content/early/2009/11/23/jbc.M109.071159