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

摘要

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°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.