Cordycepin benefit and review of studies

Cordyceps militaris, a traditional medicinal mushroom, produces a component compound, cordycepin (3'-deoxyadenosine). Cordycepin has been known to have many pharmacological activities including immunological stimulating, anti-cancer, and anti-infection activities.

Cordycepin Suppresses Expression of Diabetes Regulating Genes by Inhibition of Lipopolysaccharide-induced Inflammation in Macrophages.
Immune Netw. 2009 Jun;9(3):98-105. College of Pharmacy, Sahmyook University, Seoul, Korea.
It has been recently noticed that type 2 diabetes (T2D), one of the most common metabolic diseases, causes a chronic low-grade inflammation and activation of the innate immune system that are closely involved in the pathogenesis of T2D. In the present study, we tested the role of cordycepin on the anti-diabetic effect and anti-inflammatory cascades in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. We confirmed the levels of diabetes regulating genes mRNA and protein of cytokines through RT-PCR and western blot analysis and followed by FACS analysis for the surface molecules. Cordycepin inhibited the production of NO and pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1beta, IL-6, and TNF-alpha in LPS-activated macrophages via suppressing protein expression of pro-inflammatory mediators. T2D regulating genes such as 11beta-HSD1 and PPARgamma were decreased as well as expression of co-stimulatory molecules such as ICAM-1 and B7-1/-2 were also decreased with the increment of its concentration. In accordance with suppressed pro-inflammatory cytokine production lead to inhibition of diabetic regulating genes in activated macrophages. Cordycepin suppressed NF-kappaB activation in LPS-activated macrophages. Based on these observations, cordycepin suppressed T2D regulating genes through the inactivation of NF-kappaB dependent inflammatory responses and suggesting that cordycepin will provide potential use as an immunomodulatory agent for treating immunological diseases.