Chemical Content and Cytotoxic Activity on Various Cancer Cell Lines of Chaga () Growing on and .

Chaga mushroom () is a pathogenic fungus that grows mostly on birch species ( Roth and Ehrh.) and has traditionally been used as an anticancer medicine. This study aimed to compare the chemical composition and cytotoxic activity of chagas growing on both spp. on various cancer cell lines. The freeze-dried extracts contained triterpenes inotodiol, lanosterol betulin, and betulinic acid typical to conks growing on species. The cytotoxic activity of chaga growing on and 80% ethanolic extracts against 31 human cancer cell lines was evaluated by a sulforhodamine B assay. Chaga extract showed moderate activity against all cancer cell lines examined; it did not result in high cytotoxicity (IC ≤ 20 µg/mL). The strongest inhibitions were observed with chaga (growing on ) extract on the HepG2 and CAL-62 cell line and with chaga (from ) extract on the HepG2 cell line, with IC values of 37.71, 43.30, and 49.99 μg/mL, respectively. The chaga extracts from exert somewhat stronger effects on most cancer cell lines studied than extracts, which can be attributed to a higher content of inotodiol in extracts. This study highlights the potential of chaga as a source of bioactive compounds with selective anticancer properties. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first investigation of the chemical composition of parasitizing on .