Higher fungi (including ascomycetes and basidiomycetes) are abundant sources of a wide range of useful natural products and new products with interesting biological activities (Lorenzen and
Anke, 1998). Edible and medicinal mushrooms have regulatory functions related to nutrition, taste and physiology, which are good materials for functional foods. Many mushrooms have attracted the attention of the biotechnological industries as food supplements or materials for developing medicines (Mizuno, 2002). Agaricus blazei Murrill (ABM) is a Brazilian mushroom popularly known as the sun mushroom, and it has been traditionally used as medicine (Mizuno, 1995). ABM is particularly rich in polysaccharides and has shown positive results in preventing and treating cancer