**Mushrooms and immunity** - Journal of Autoimmunity 117 (2021) 102576 Francesca Motta, Eric Gershwin, Carlo Selmi https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaut.2020.102576 **A B S T R A C T** In the wide field of nutraceuticals, the effects of mushrooms on immunity, cancer and including autoimmunity have been proposed for centuries but in recent years a growing interest has led scientists to elucidate which specific compounds have bioactive properties and through which mechanisms. Glucans and specific proteins are responsible for most of the biological effects of mushrooms, particularly in terms of immunomodulatory and anti- tumor results. Proteins with bioactive effects include lectins, fungal immunomodulatory proteins (FIPs), ribo­ some inactivating proteins (RIPs), ribonucleases, laccases, among others. At the present status of knowledge, numerous studies have been performed on cell lines and murine models while only a few clinical trials have been conducted. As in most cases of dietary components, the multitude of variables implicated in the final effect and an inadequate standardization are expected to affect the observed differences, thus making the available evi­ dence insufficient to justify the treatment of human diseases with mushrooms extracts. We will herein provide a comprehensive review and critically discussion the biochemical changes induced by different mushroom com­ pounds as observed in in vitro studies, particularly on macrophages, dendritic cells, T cells, and NK cells, compared to in vivo and human studies. Additional effects are represented by lipids which constitute a minor part of mushrooms but may have a role in reducing serum cholesterol levels or phenols acting as antioxidant and reducing agents. Human studies provide a minority of available data, as well illustrated by a placebo-controlled study of athletes treated with β-glucan from Pleurotus ostreatus. Variables influencing study outcomes include different mushrooms strains, growing conditions, developmental stage, part of mushroom used, extraction method, and storage conditions. We foresee that future rigorous research will be needed to determine the po­ tential of mushroom compounds for human health to reproduce the effects of some compounds such as lentinan which a metaanalysis demonstrated to increase the efficacy of chemotherapy in the treatment of lung cancer and in the improvement of the patients quality of life.

**Abstract** Mushroom-producing white-rot fungi can be used to convert woodwaste into gour- met and medicinal mushrooms. White-rot fungi do not always readily colonize on coni- fer wood because of its extractives content. This study evaluated the resinous extractive content of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda), ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa ), and an un- known species of southern yellow pine before and after treatment with the extrac- tive-degrading fungi Aureobasidium spp., Ceratocystis spp., and Ophiostoma spp. Fungal treatment removed 70 to 99.9 percent of extractives. Scanning electron micros- copy showed heavy mycelial growth ofthe colorless isolate Ophiostoma piliferum, with good sporulation, on the surface of loblolly and southern yellow pine chips, in the resin canals, and in the parenchyma cells within 4 to 5 days. The treated wood chips were used to cultivate lignolytic mushroom-producing, white-rot basidiomycetes of various Pleurotus species and two other fungi, Grifola frondosa and Hericium erinaceus. The results show that lignolytic white-rot basidiomycetes can easily colonize and produce mushrooms on treated conifer wood chips.