Effects of Sparassis crispa in Medical Therapeutics: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

In this study, we investigated the therapeutic potential and medical applications of Sparassis crispa (S. crispa) by conducting a systematic review of the existing literature and performing a meta-analysis. The original efficacy treatment of the mushroom extract is considered primarily and searched...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Le Thi Nhu Ngoc, You-Kwan Oh, Young-Jong Lee, Young-Chul Lee
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2018-05-01
Series:International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/19/5/1487
Description
Summary:In this study, we investigated the therapeutic potential and medical applications of Sparassis crispa (S. crispa) by conducting a systematic review of the existing literature and performing a meta-analysis. The original efficacy treatment of the mushroom extract is considered primarily and searched in electronic databases. A total of 623 articles were assessed, 33 randomized controlled experiments were included after the manual screening, and some papers, review articles, or editorials that did not contain data were excluded. A comparative standard means difference (SMD) and a funnel plot between control and S. crispa groups were used as parameters to demonstrate the beneficial effects of S. crispa for diabetes and cancer treatment, as well as anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal and antioxidant activities. The meta-analysis was carried out using Review Manager 5.1 software. Although for therapeutic diabetes there was heterogeneity in the subgroup analysis (I2 = 91.9%), the overall results showed statistically significant SMDs in major symptoms that decreased serum insulin levels (SMD = 1.92, 95% CI (1.10, 2.75), I2 = 0%), wound rates (SMD = 3.55 (2.56, 4.54), I2 = 40%) and contributions to an increase in nutrient intake content (SMD = 0.32 (−0.15, 0.78), I2 = 0%). Simultaneously, the study confirmed the utility of S. crispa treatment in terms of not only anti-cancer activity (reduction of tumor activity and survival of cancer cells I2 = 42 and 34%, respectively) but also anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal and antioxidant activities (I2 = 50, 44, and 10%, respectively). Our findings suggest that S. crispa extracts are useful for prevention and treatment of human diseases and might be the best candidates for future medicines.
ISSN:1422-0067