Gravina AG, Pellegrino R, Auletta S, Palladino G, Brandimarte G, D’Onofrio R, Arboretto G, Imperio G, Ventura A, Cipullo M, Romano M, Federico A. Hericium erinaceus, a medicinal fungus with a centuries-old history: Evidence in gastrointestinal diseases. World J Gastroenterol 2023; 29(20): 3048-3065 [PMID: 37346156 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v29.i20.3048]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Antonietta Gerarda Gravina, MD, MSc, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Precision Medicine, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Via L. de Crecchio, Naples 80138, Italy. antoniettagerarda.gravina@unicampania.it
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. May 28, 2023; 29(20): 3048-3065 Published online May 28, 2023. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v29.i20.3048
Hericium erinaceus, a medicinal fungus with a centuries-old history: Evidence in gastrointestinal diseases
Antonietta Gerarda Gravina, Raffaele Pellegrino, Salvatore Auletta, Giovanna Palladino, Giovanni Brandimarte, Rossella D’Onofrio, Giusi Arboretto, Giuseppe Imperio, Andrea Ventura, Marina Cipullo, Marco Romano, Alessandro Federico
Antonietta Gerarda Gravina, Raffaele Pellegrino, Salvatore Auletta, Giovanna Palladino, Rossella D’Onofrio, Giusi Arboretto, Giuseppe Imperio, Andrea Ventura, Marina Cipullo, Marco Romano, Alessandro Federico, Department of Precision Medicine, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Naples 80138, Italy
Giovanni Brandimarte, Division of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, Cristo Re Hospital, Rome 00167, Italy
Author contributions: Gravina AG, Pellegrino R, Romano M, and Federico A collected the literature, wrote the initial manuscript, conceptualised the tables and figures, and contributed equally to this work; Gravina AG, Pellegrino R, Auletta S, Palladino G, Brandimarte G, D’Onofrio R, Arboretto G, Imperio G, Ventura A, Cipullo M, Romano M, and Federico A conceptualised the structure of the text, critically revised the manuscript for important intellectual content, and read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Antonietta Gerarda Gravina, MD, MSc, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Precision Medicine, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Via L. de Crecchio, Naples 80138, Italy. antoniettagerarda.gravina@unicampania.it
Received: March 3, 2023 Peer-review started: March 3, 2023 First decision: March 21, 2023 Revised: March 22, 2023 Accepted: April 21, 2023 Article in press: April 21, 2023 Published online: May 28, 2023 Processing time: 83 Days and 14.2 Hours
Abstract
Hericium erinaceus is an edible and medicinal mushroom commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries. Several studies have highlighted its therapeutic potential for gastrointestinal disorders such as gastritis and inflammatory bowel diseases. In addition, some components of this mushroom appear to possess strong antineoplastic capabilities against gastric and colorectal cancer. This review aims to analyse all available evidence on the digestive therapeutic potential of this fungus as well as the possible underlying molecular mechanisms.
Core Tip: Various natural and non-pharmacological principles have been used to treat gastrointestinal disorders. Hericium erinaceus is a Chinese mushroom with a centuries-old medicinal tradition. Several preclinical studies have demonstrated their anti-inflammatory and antineoplastic potential. The therapeutic activity of this mushroom also targets inflammatory bowel diseases, as demonstrated in several animal experiments. However, evidence from in vivo studies is not generally available for patients with gastrointestinal disorders. It is also unclear which component of this mushroom has the greatest potency and the best safety profile.
