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Background: One of the medicinal fungi that has been used in traditional medicine for a long time is the Basidiomycete fungus Fomes fomentarius, which is widely distributed in Iran. Polysaccharides as one of the metabolites of this fungus have anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, antibacterial, antioxidant, and anti-cancer properties. Materials & Methods: Optimization of independent variables of MgSO4.7H2O concentration, initial pH, yeast extract, and inoculum percentage to increase biomass and polysaccharide production of F. fomentarius was investigated using the Taguchi method. Then, the biological properties of the produced polysaccharide including antibacterial activity was investigated by bacterial colony counting method, antioxidant activity using DPPH free radical, and antiproliferative effect on 5 cancer cell lines MKN-45, AGS, A549, KYSE-30 and 5637 using MTS test. Results: The concentration of MgSO4.7H2O and initial pH had a significant effect (P A549 5637> AGS> MKN-45). This effect increases with increasing concentration. In KYSE-30 cell line treatment with 200 g/mL polysaccharide, cell viability reaches 40% after 72 hours. Conclusion: Optimizing the culture medium of the medicinal fungus Fomes fomentarius increases the production of polysaccharides up to 5.410 g/L. Optimization increases the biological activity of polysaccharides. Antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli is 50% and 25%, respectively. The antioxidant activity of polysaccharides is 16.11% and the viability of KYSE-30 cancer cells reaches 40% after 72 hours.

Selenium (Se) is one of the essential elements for human health, where Se-containing compounds can prevent cancer and reduce mortality by regulating of the cell cycle and apoptosis. Exopolysaccharides from Fomes fomentarius have been used in traditional medicine to treat cancer. It appears that the combination of Se and fungal polysaccharides may be more effective. The effect of adding Na2SeO3 to the culture medium of the Iranian medicinal fungus F. fomentarius is investigated in this study. Adding 20 mg/L Na2SeO3 to the culture medium changed the F. fomentarius morphology and improved the structure of exopolysaccharides. Several methods, including FTIR, EDS, and ICP-OES, confirmed the presence of Se in the exopolysaccharides of F. fomentarius. The results demonstrated that the addition of Na2SeO3 increased the antibacterial activity against S.aureus (60%) and antioxidant activity (17.4%) significantly (p