The genus Cordyceps has been used as a traditional herbal medicine for thousands of years, and several studies have been conducted to validate the claimed enthomedicinal properties, establish new pharmacological activities, and identify the bioactive constituents responsible for this activity. It has about 750 identified species, which are distributed in many regions of the world but are mainly found in South Asia, Europe, and North America. The species of the genus are highly priced and widely used as food and medicine for the treatment of various ailments.

Researchers compile literature information on the ethno-medicinal, phytochemical, and pharmacological properties of species in the genus Cordyceps. In vitro and in vivo research studies reporting the validation of the medicinal properties of some species were also reviewed. And also suggest recommendations for the future research.

From the summary, it appears that the phytochemical diversity of this genus was demonstrated with over 200 metabolites, including nucleosides, sterols, cyclic peptides, flavonoids, dihydrobenzofurans, bioxanthracenes, polyketides, terpenes, alkaloids, and phenolics, isolated from various Cordyceps species. Cordyceps sinensis was identified as the most frequently used and most explored member of the Cordyceps genus. Cyclodepsipeptides, nucleosides, and polysaccharides were identified as the most studied class of compounds from the genus, and they show immunomodulatory, antioxidant, antitumor, cytotoxic, anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, antidiabetic, analgesic, anti-HIV, antibacterial, antimalarial, and antifungal activities (example in the figure below). So, species in the genus Cordyceps are an important source for treating a wide range of diseases because they contain bioactive components with strong bioactivities that could be used as possible drug discovery leads.

Olatunji, O. J., Tang, J., Tola, A., Auberon, F., Oluwaniyi, O., & Ouyang, Z. (2018). The genus Cordyceps: An extensive review of its traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacology. Fitoterapia, 129, 293-316. [Link]
Liu, Y., Guo, Z. J., & Zhou, X. W. (2022). Chinese Cordyceps: Bioactive Components, Antitumor Effects and Underlying Mechanism—A Review. Molecules, 27(19), 6576. [Link]