Anticancer and immunostimulating activities of a novel homogalacturonan from Hippophae rhamnoides L. berry

• Published in: Carbohydrate polymers Vol. 131; pp. 288 - 296
• Main Authors: Wang, Hailiang, Gao, Tingting, Du, Yuzhi, Yang, Hongxia, Wei, Lixin, Bi, Hongtao, Ni, Weihua
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 20.10.2015
• Subjects: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents - pharmacology; Antitumor activity; Body Weight - drug effects; Carbon-13 Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Carcinoma, Lewis Lung - pathology; Concanavalin A - pharmacology; Cytotoxicity, Immunologic - drug effects; Fruit - chemistry; Hippophae - chemistry; Hippophae rhamnoides L; Homogalacturonan; Immunologic Factors - pharmacology; Immunostimulating activity; Killer Cells, Natural - cytology; Killer Cells, Natural - drug effects; Lipopolysaccharides - pharmacology; Macrophages - drug effects; Male; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Nitric Oxide - biosynthesis; Pectins - chemistry; Pectins - isolation & purification; Pectins - pharmacology; Phagocytosis - drug effects; Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic - cytology; T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic - drug effects; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha - biosynthesis; l-Rhamnose (PubChem CID: 19233); d-Galactose (PubChem CID: 6036); d-Mannose (PubChem CID: 18950); Hippophae rhamnoides L; d-Glucose (PubChem CID: 5793); Galacturonic acid (PubChem CID: 441476); Homogalacturonan; Antitumor activity; Immunostimulating activity; l-Xylose (PubChem CID: 95259); l-Arabinose (PubChem CID: 5460291)
• ISSN: 0144-8617; 1879-1344
• DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2015.06.021

•A high-methoxyl pectin (HRWP-A) was seperated from Hippophae rhamnoides L. Berry.•HRWP-A possesses antitumor and immunomodulation activity.•HRWP-A has the potential as an new immunomodulatory agent for cancer therapy. 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.