A Norwegian company supplying lentinen, a polysaccharide (beta-glycan) biofermented from an exotic mushroom for cancer therapy in the Far East, is poised to start trials in the UK.
It will be the first major study in Europe to look at the potential role of mushrooms in cancer diets.
"In Japan and China, similar compounds are used almost routinely in the treatment of cancer problems,"said professor John Smith, recently retired from the University of Strathclyde, who has championed the therapy.
He added: "They are not miracle drugs, but they can help fight the disease and overcome some of the problems associated with chemotherapy. Mushrooms are basically good, healthy foods and I'm drawing attention to the fact that they have been treated very badly."
The Norwegian firm Medimush, headed by Dr Bjorn Kristiansen, produces mycelium-based products from shitake mushrooms for medical treatment, supplements and functional foods in Asia, where they are credited with remarkable results.
"In Asia they are used in soups, tea, bread and functional foods to boost the immune system. If these products are so good, why aren't they being used en masse?" he said.
Initial trials, scheduled to take place later this year or next, will focus on improving the quality of life for sufferers rather than as an alternative treatment, said professor Richard Sullivan, director of clinical programmes and centres at charity Cancer Research UK. He added: "Chemotherapy damages the system and causes non specific effects, like nausea, which we find hard to treat.
"The beta glycans seem to stimulate the immune system, but these molecules are the most complex in nature as they hit so many different targets in the human system.
"Mushrooms in functional food may be part of a cancer prevention diet, but using these products in a purified form to suppress high risk cancer is not going to work because they are not powerful enough." He added: "We have never had a polysaccharide licence in Europe, which is one of the reasons I became interested. If we get approval in the US, where early phase trials have started, it makes it easier to enter Europe."
Similar products readily available in Asia relied on extraction techniques which ran the risk of inconsistencies due to variations in climate, soil and handling, he claimed.
However, Medimush had developed technology to produce these products in "a completely different way," claimed Kristiansen.