Agaricus extract was shown to exert estrogen-like activity and may help prevent atherosclerosis via dual roles in cell signaling, macrophage development suppression and endothelial cell recovery from vascular damage ⁽¹⁶⁾. Both aqueous and organic extracts of agaricus offered protection to cells exposed to methyl methanesulphonate, a mutagenic agent. The stimulus produced by linoleic acid on beta-DNA polymerase, an enzyme involved in repair mechanism following exposure of DNA to alkylating agents, is thought responsible for such an effect ⁽¹⁹⁾.

Ergosterol, a major constituent of agaricus, was found to inhibit tumor growth in mice via direct inhibition of tumor-induced angiogenesis ⁽⁶⁾. Other studies demonstrated that polysaccharides present in agaricus extract caused activation of macrophages ⁽⁵⁾ or natural killer cells ⁽¹⁷⁾ and induced cytotoxic T-lymphocyte activity in tumor-bearing mice. Specifically, activation of natural killer cells was mediated through IL-12-induced IFN-gamma expression ⁽¹⁸⁾. Agaricus extract stimulates caspase 3 activation and reduces telomerase activity ⁽¹⁹⁾ possibly through regulation of Akt signaling ⁽²⁰⁾ thereby inducing apoptosis in cancer cell lines. Blazeispirol A, produced by agaricus fermentation, causes both caspase-dependent and -independent cell death in human Hep 3B cells ⁽²¹⁾. Agaritine, a hydrazine-containing constituent also exhibits antitumor activity toward U937 leukemic cells mediated through apoptosis ⁽²²⁾. In another study, polysaccharides isolated from agaricus were shown to induce apoptosis in HL-60 cells through a signaling cascade of mitochondrial caspase-3-dependent pathway ⁽²⁸⁾.