Anti-viral activity of Hydnellum concrescens, a medicinal mushroom

Trafficking of viral glycoprotein to the surface of infected-cells results in syncytium formation in Newcastle disease virus (NDV)-infected baby hamster kidney (BHK) cells. Hydnellum concrescens, known as a medicinal mushroom, inhibited not only syncytium formation, but also trafficking of glycoprotein, hemagglutinin-neuramidase (HN) to the cell-surface. Viral glycoprotein is processed within the endoplasmic reticulum during routing into surface. Fungal extracts showed inhibitory activities (IC50 15µg/ml) against α-glucosidase. This suggested that H. concrescens extracts inhibited the cell-surface expression of NDV-HN glycoprotein without significantly affecting HN glycoprotein synthesis in NDV-infected BHK cells.Key words: α-Glucosidase inhibitor, Hydnellum concrescens, trafficking inhibitor.