Anti-proliferative effect of Pleurotus tuberregium against colon and cervical cancer cells

Pleurotus tuberregium is an exotic mushroom species which grows in tropical and subtropical parts of the world. This species is used in Africa for food and as medicine for the treatment of certain diseases. There is limited scientific information on the effects of P. tuberregium against cancer cells. This study was carried out to determine the antiproliferative activities of P. tuberregium ethanol and water extracts against HCT-116 colon and HeLa cervical cancer cells at concentrations of 0, 100, 200, 400, 600, and 800 μg/ml after 24, 48, and 72 h of exposure using the MTT assay. After 72 h, the ethanol extract of P. tuberregium at 800 μg/ml had inhibitory activities of 65 and 47% when tested on HCT 116 and HeLa cells, respectively, while the dried water extract from P. tuberregium at the same concentration had inhibitory activities of 45 and 37%. Since both alcohol and water crude extracts of P. tuberregium exhibited relatively strong antiproliferative activity, their pharmaceutical applications as chemopreventive supplements or potentially in complementary treatment of cervical and colon cancers need to be further investigated.