LOW-MOLECULAR-WEIGHT SUBSTANCE DERIVED FROM MAITAKE MUSHROOM AND HAVING IMMUNOSTIMULATING ACTIVITY AND ANTI-TUMOR ACTIVITY

From the paper

Abstract

Disclosed is a substance derived from a Maitake mushroom, which has a lower molecular weight compared with those of conventional saccharide-protein complexes and a different structure from those of the conventional saccharide-protein complexes, and also has a high immunostimulating activity and a high anti-tumor activity.; A low-molecular-weight substance derived from a Maitake mushroom is produced through the following steps 1) to (4): 1) extracting a mycelium or fruit body of the Maitake mushroom with hot water; 2) adding an alcohol to a water-soluble fraction extracted in step 1) so that the final concentration of the alcohol becomes 10 to 80% by volume, allowing the resulting mixture to stand at 1 to 40 DEG C, and removing substances floating on the surface of the solution or floating in the solution, substances adhered on the wall surface of the vessel and precipitates produced in the solution; 3) removing the alcohol from an alcohol-containing water-soluble fraction produced in the preceding step to obtain a water-soluble fraction, subjecting the water-soluble fraction to anion exchange chromatography, and collecting an adsorbed fraction;; and 4) subjecting the adsorbed fraction to molecular sieving and collecting a fraction having a molecular weight of 5000 or less.