Immunomodulatory Activity and Its Mechanisms of Two Polysaccharides from Poria cocos

• Published in: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 29; no. 1; p. 50
• Main Authors: Zhang, Wuxia, He, Jiaqi, Zheng, Danping, Zhao, Panpan, Wang, Yingdong, Zhao, Jinzhong, Li, Peng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 20.12.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Cell growth; Cluster analysis; Cytokines; Experiments; immunomodulatory; Kinases; mannose receptor; MAPK signaling pathway; NF-κB signaling pathways; Phosphorylation; Poria cocos polysaccharides; Poria cocos polysaccharides; NF-κB signaling pathways; MAPK signaling pathway; mannose receptor; immunomodulatory
• ISSN: 1420-3049; 1420-3049
• DOI: 10.3390/molecules29010050

Polyporaceae is an important fungal family that has been a source of natural products with a range of pharmaceutical activities in China. In our previous study, two polysaccharides, PCWPW and PCWPS, with significant antioxidant and antidepressant activity were obtained from . In this study, we evaluated their potential molecular mechanisms in the immunomodulation of macrophages. PCWPW and PCWPS were characterized by GC-MS analysis to contain 1,3-linked Glcp. ELISA assays results demonstrated that the secretion of TNF-α was significantly enhanced by PCWPW/PCWPS. RNA-seq data demonstrated that PCWPS treatment modulated the expression of immune-related genes in macrophages, which was further confirmed by RT-qPCR assays. The activation of TNF-α secretion was found to be mannose receptor (MR) dependent and suppressed by MR inhibitor pretreatment. Moreover, the amount of TNF-α cytokine secretion in PCWPW/PCWPS-induced RAW264.7 cells was decreased when pretreated with NF-κB or MAPK signaling pathway inhibitors. Collectively, our results suggested that PCWPW and PCWPS possessed immunomodulatory activity that regulates TNF-α expression through the NF-κB/MAPK signaling pathway by binding to mannose receptors. Therefore, PCWPW and PCWPS isolated from have potential as drug candidates for immune-related disease treatment.