Researchers from the Medical University of Bialystok (UMB) and the Białystok University of Technology filed a patent application on the use of Heterobasidion annosum pine to treat colorectal cancer. This is the result of research on the use of fungi found in the Bialowieza Forest in the treatment of cancer.

At the beginning of 2018, scientists reported the creation of a bank of extracts of over 150 fungi occurring in the Białowieża Forest, which is located at the Science and Research Center of the Faculty of Forestry at the Białystok University of Technology in Hajnówka.
The properties of the Heterobasidion annosum were first tested on physiological cells and colon cancer cells grown in the laboratory, and then on laboratory mice.

The patent application concerns a new application of this fungus that stops the development of colon cancer cells – informed Prof. Halina Car, head of the UMB experimental pharmacology department.