Transcriptome analysis reveals possible antitumor mechanism of Chlorella exopolysaccharide

• Published in: Gene Vol. 779; p. 145494
• Main Authors: Zhong, Run, Li, Jie-Qiong, Wu, Si-Wei, He, Xiu-Miao, Xuan, Jin-Cai, Long, Han, Liu, Hong-Quan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 05.05.2021
• Subjects: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic - administration & dosage; Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic - chemistry; Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic - pharmacology; Antitumor mechanism; Cell Proliferation - drug effects; Cell Proliferation - genetics; Chlorella - chemistry; Chlorella sp; Chlorocebus aethiops; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; Exopolysaccharide; Gene Expression Profiling - methods; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic - drug effects; HeLa Cells; Humans; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases - genetics; Polysaccharides - administration & dosage; Polysaccharides - chemistry; Polysaccharides - pharmacology; Protein Interaction Maps - drug effects; Protein Interaction Maps - genetics; RNA-seq; Vero Cells; CXCL8; Antitumor mechanism; PPI; IFIT1; M; TNF; ETS1; IFIT2; OASL; DMEM; DEGs; RNA-seq; KEGG; RAC3; Exopolysaccharide; JAK3; JUN; Chlorella sp; OS; RSAD2; MLKL; IL11RA; MX2; GO; PTPN11; ISG15; ATP1B3; PRKCA; EIP; ISG20; OAS1; OAS2; BCL3; PPP1R1B; CEPS; HD; XAF1; PIK3AP1; GAPDH; IRF9
• ISSN: 0378-1119; 1879-0038
• DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2021.145494

•The effects of CEPS in HeLa cells showed significant morphological changes.•DEGs and metabolic pathways related to the inhibition of cancer cells by CEPS were obtained by RNA-seq.•PTPN11, OAS family and other genes have been confirmed as potential targets for tumor therapy. Microalgae, one of the most important classes of biomass producers, can produce exopolysaccharides similar to bacteria. The exopolysaccharide from Chlorella (CEPS) displays remarkable anticancer activity the mechanism of which remains to be elucidated. In this study, we analyzed the inhibitory effect of CEPS on the growth of HeLa cells. The results showed that CEPS inhibited the proliferation, decreased the viability, and changed the morphology of HeLa cells. Transcriptome analysis showed that 1894 genes were differentially expressed in the CEPS-treated group compared with the control group, including 1076 genes that were upregulated and 818 genes that were downregulated. The results of gene function enrichment analysis showed that the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were significantly enriched in apoptosis and tumor-related biological processes and participated in several cancer and apoptosisrelated signaling pathways, including the MAPK signaling pathway, TNF signaling pathway, and the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. The protein–protein interaction network identified 13 DEGs including PTPN11, RSAD2, ISG15, IFIT1, MX2, IFIT2, OASL, OAS1, JUN, OAS2, XAF1, ISG20, and IRF9 as hub genes. Our results suggest that CEPS is a promising therapeutic drug for the follow-up interventional therapy of cancer.