For a good period of time now cordyceps sinensis has been regarded highly in traditional Chinese medicine - this mushroom is a super food which has received some glowing testimonial and review on its healing abilities on the human body. Being more than just superstition, cordyceps sinensis has accumulated research that backs up the curative claims of this medicinal mushroom.

Scientists from the University of Nottingham have been successful in documenting the medicinal capabilities of cordyceps sinensis and how this mushroom can be used to fight cancer, this discovery can lead to increased effectiveness of treatments derived from mycological sources (from mushrooms)

Dr Cornelia de Moor's study was published in Journal of Biological Chemistry, she and her colleagues investigated the use of cordycepin - a polysaccharide found in cordyceps sinensis - which was extracted from wild growing cordyceps sinensis in the form of CS4 in the early 1960's but has since been prepared from a cultivated form of cordyceps sinensis.

The study from the University of Nottingham found that treatments derived from cordyceps sinensis had two important effects on cells that could dramatically affect or reduce the growth of tumors which were malignant. They described two situations, at low intake of cordyceps sinensis, the cordycepin managed to inhibit uncontrolled growth and cell division but at a higher therapeutic dosage of cordyceps sinensis, the cordycepin was able to prevent cells sticking together which essentially blocked the cell from being able to grow.

"Our discovery will open up the possibility of investigating the range of different cancers that could be treated with cordycepin," Dr de Moor stated. "We have also developed a very effective method that can be used to test new, more efficient or more stable versions of the drug in the Petri dish. This is a great advantage as it will allow us to rule out any non-runners before anyone considers testing them in animals."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8428340.stm (original BBC news story)