Isolation and characterization of an anti-proliferative polysaccharide from the North American fungus Echinodontium tinctorium

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 12; no. 1; p. 17298
• Main Authors: Zeb, Mehreen, Li, Wai Ming, Heiss, Christian, Black, Ian, Tackaberry, Linda E, Massicotte, Hugues B, Egger, Keith N, Reimer, Kerry, Azadi, Parastoo, Lee, Chow H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Nature Publishing Group 14.10.2022; Nature Publishing Group UK; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: Animal models; Animals; Antitumor activity; Apoptosis; Basidiomycota; Cancer; Flow cytometry; Fruit bodies; Fucose; Galactose; Glucose - analysis; Glucuronic Acid; Mannose; Molecular Weight; Polysaccharides; Polysaccharides - pharmacology; Rhamnose; Tumor cell lines
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-21697-0

A novel polysaccharide EtGIPL1a was purified from fruiting bodies of Echinodontium tinctorium, a fungus unique to western North America. EtGIPL1a has an estimated weight average molecular weight of 275 kDa and is composed of glucose (54.3%), galactose (19.6%), mannose (11.1%), fucose (10.3%), glucuronic acid (4%), and rhamnose (0.6%). It has multiple glycosidic linkages, with 3-Glcp (28.9%), 6-Glcp (18.3%), 3,6-Glcp (13%), 4-GlcpA (9.2%), 6-Galp (3.9%), 2,6-Galp (2.6%), 3-Fucp (2.5%), 6-Manp (2.4%) being the most prominent, and unsubstituted glucose (15.3%), mannose (1.3%) and fucose (0.9%) as major terminal sugars. EtGIPL1a has a backbone containing mostly 3-substituted β-glucopyranose with 4-substituted glucopyranosyluronic acid. EtGIPL1a showed anti-proliferative activity against multiple cancer cell lines, with IC ranging from 50.6 to 1446 nM. Flow cytometry analyses confirmed that apoptosis induction is one mechanism for its anti-proliferative activity. EtGIPL1a should be further investigated for its potential anti-cancer activity in animal models, and for its possible utility in differentiation cancer therapy.