pectins and Carcinoma--Lewis-Lung

Our previous study isolated an anti-fatigue polysaccharide (HRWP) from the Hippophae rhamnoides berry. In this study, using ion-exchange chromatography and gel filtration chromatography in turn, a water-soluble homogenous polysaccharide HRWP-A was isolated from HRWP. Structural analysis determined that HRWP-A was a polysaccharide with repeating units of (1→4)-β-d-galactopyranosyluronic residues, of which 85.16% were esterified with methyl groups. An antitumor activity assay showed that HRWP-A could significantly inhibit the Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) growth in tumor-bearing mice. Further experiments suggested that the antitumor effect of HRWP-A might be mediated through immunostimulating activity, as it enhances the lymphocyte proliferation, augments the macrophage activities, as well as promoting NK cell activity and CTL cytotoxicity in tumor-bearing mice. To our knowledge, this is the first report on a natural antitumor high-methoxyl homogalacturonan pectin from the H. rhamnoides berry-a compound that acts as a potential immunostimulant and anticancer adjuvant.

Topics: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Body Weight; Carbon-13 Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Carcinoma, Lewis Lung; Concanavalin A; Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; Fruit; Hippophae; Immunologic Factors; Killer Cells, Natural; Lipopolysaccharides; Macrophages; Male; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Nitric Oxide; Pectins; Phagocytosis; Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha