In another study, oridonin potentiated the anticancer activity of lentinan, a polysaccharide isolated from shiitake mushrooms, by upregulating the expression levels of caspase-3, -8, -9, BAX, p53, and p21 while downregulating the expression of BCL-2, B-cell lymphoma extra-large (BCL-XL) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) in SMMC-7721 human hepatoma cells [29]. This evidence concerns the gene EGF and hepatocellular carcinoma.