Journal of Fungi Review Immunomodulatory Effects of Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms and Their Bioactive Immunoregulatory Products Shuang Zhao 1, Qi Gao 1, Chengbo Rong 1, Shouxian Wang 1, Zhekun Zhao 1,2, Yu Liu 1 and Jianping Xu 3,* 1 Institute of Plant and Environment Protection, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China;
[email protected] (S.Z.);
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[email protected] (Y.L.) 2 College of Life Sciences and Food Engineering, Hebei University of Engineering, Handan 056038, China 3 Department of Biology, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4K1, Canada * Correspondence:
[email protected] Received: 10 October 2020; Accepted: 2 November 2020; Published: 8 November 2020 Abstract: Mushrooms have been valued as food and health supplements by humans for centuries. They are rich in dietary fiber, essential amino acids, minerals, and many bioactive compounds, especially those related to human immune system functions. Mushrooms contain diverse immunoregulatory compounds such as terpenes and terpenoids, lectins, fungal immunomodulatory proteins (FIPs) and polysaccharides. The distributions of these compounds differ among mushroom species and their potent immune modulation activities vary depending on their core structures and fraction composition chemical modifications. Here we review the current status of clinical studies on immunomodulatory activities of mushrooms and mushroom products. The potential mechanisms for their activities both in vitro and in vivo were summarized. We describe the approaches that have been used in the development and application of bioactive compounds extracted from mushrooms. These developments have led to the commercialization of a large number of mushroom products.