Frailty is a geriatric syndrome associated with both locomotor and cognitive decline, implicated in both poor quality of life and negative health outcomes. One central question surrounding frailty is whether phenotypic frailty is associated with the cognitive impairment during aging. Using spontaneous behavioral tests and by studying the dynamic change during aging, we demonstrated that the two form of vulnerability, locomotor and recognition memory decline, develop in parallel and therefore, integration of the motoric and cognitive evaluations are imperative. We developed an integrated frailty index based on both phenotypic and recognition memory performances. Hericium erinaceus (H. erinaceus) is a medicinal mushroom that improves recognition memory in mice. By using HPLC-UV-ESI/MS analyses we obtained standardized amounts of erinacine A and hericenones C and D in H. erinaceus extracts, that were tested in our animal model of physiological aging. Two-month oral supplementation with H. erinaceus reversed the age-decline of recognition memory. Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and doublecortin (DCX) immunohistochemistry in the hippocampus and cerebellum in treated mice supported a positive effect of an H. erinaceus on neurogenesis in frail mice.

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, consisting of a mixture of Agaricus blazei, Ophiocordyceps sinensis, Ganoderma lucidum, Grifola frondosa, and Lentinula edodes. The syngeneic tumor-bearing mice were generated by injecting 4T1 cells in both supplemented and non-supplemented mice. After sacrifice 35 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.

The current standard oncotherapy for glioblastoma is limited by several adverse side effects, leading to a short-term patient survival rate paralleled by a worsening quality of life (QoL). Recently, Complementary and Integrative Medicine’s (CIM) innovative approaches have shown positive impacts in terms of better response to treatment, side effect reduction, and QoL improvement. In particular, promising potential in cancer therapy has been found in compounds coming from phyto- and mycotherapy. The objective of this study was to demonstrate the beneficial effects of a new phyto-mycotherapy supplement, named Ganostile, in the human glioblastoma cell line U251, in combination with chemotherapeutic agents, i.e., Cisplatin and a new platinum-based prodrug. Choosing a supplement dosage that mimicked oral supplementation in humans (about 1 g/day), through in vitro assays, microscopy, and cytometric analysis, it has emerged that the cells, after 48hr continuous exposure to Ganostile in combination with the chemical compounds, showed a higher mortality and a lower proliferation rate than the samples subjected to the different treatments administered individually. In conclusion, our data support the use of Ganostile in integrative oncology protocols as a promising adjuvant able to amplify conventional and new drug effects and also reducing resistance mechanisms often observed in brain tumors.