Abstract: Polysaccharide is a kind of natural macromolecule that is polymerized from many monosaccharide molecules. Edible mushroom polysaccharide is a member of the polysaccharide family. As a natural compound, edible mushroom polysaccharide shows great promise in the research and development of foods, medicine and health care products. Ganoderma lucidum and Polyporus umbellatus are valuable edible and medicinal mushrooms, which have great flavor and high nutritional value. Both of them have a wide range of pharmacological effects, such as anti-tumor, immunoregulation, and antioxidant effect. Ganoderma lucidum and Polyporus umbellatus contain many bioactive ingredients, separately. Among them, polysaccharides play an important role in immune regulation by acting on a variety of immune cells, thereby regulating the immune function of the body. Modern pharmacological studies have found that a combination of Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide and Polyporus umbellatus polysaccharide is able to enhance the immune function of mice. In this paper, we will briefly describe the characteristics of polysaccharides, and summarize the immunoregulatory functions and mechanisms of Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide and Polyporus umbellatus polysaccharide in order to guide future studies in this area.

Key words: Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides; Polyporus umbellatus polysaccharides; immunoregulation