Biological activities and pharmaceutical applications of polysaccharide from natural resources: A review

The marine acid polysaccharide fucoidan has attracted attention from both the food and pharmaceutical industries due to its promising therapeutic effects. Fucoidan is a polysaccharide that mainly consists of L-fucose and sulphate groups. Its excellent biological function is attributed to its unique biological structure. Classical activities include antitumor, antioxidant, anticoagulant, antithrombotic, immunoregulatory, antiviral and anti-inflammatory effects. More recently, fucoidan has been shown to alleviate metabolic syndrome, protect the gastrointestinal tract, benefit angiogenesis and bone health. This review focuses on the progress in our understanding of the biological activities of fucoidan, highlighting its benefits for the treatment of human disease. We hope that this review can provide some theoretical basis and inspiration for the product development of fucoidan.

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Biological Activities of Fucoidan and the Factors Mediating Its Therapeutic Effects: A Review of Recent Studies

Structural characterization and antioxidant activity of polysaccharide from four auriculariales.

Review of the relationships among polysaccharides, gut microbiota, and human health.

Mushrooms are widely distributed around the world and are heavily consumed because of their nutritional value and medicinal properties. Polysaccharides (PSs) are an important component of mushrooms, a major factor in their bioactive properties, and have been intensively studied during the past two decades. Monosaccharide composition/combinations are important determinants of PS bioactivities. This review summarizes: (i) monosaccharide composition/combinations in various mushroom PSs, and their relationships with PS bioactivities; (ii) possible biosynthetic pathways of mushroom PSs and effects of key enzymes on monosaccharide composition; (iii) regulation strategies in PS biosynthesis, and prospects for controllable biosynthesis of PSs with enhanced bioactivities.

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Bioactive Mushroom Polysaccharides: A Review on Monosaccharide Composition, Biosynthesis and Regulation.

Purification, antitumor and immunomodulatory activity of polysaccharides from soybean residue fermented with Morchella esculenta.

Characterization of polysaccharide from Helicteres angustifolia L. and its immunomodulatory activities on macrophages RAW264.7.

Helicteres angustifolia L. is a shrub that forms a common ingredient of several cancer treatment recipes in traditional medicine system both in China and Laos. In order to investigate molecular mechanisms of its anticancer activity, we prepared aqueous extract of Helicteres angustifolia L. Roots (AQHAR) and performed several in vitro assays using human normal fibroblasts (TIG-3) and osteosarcoma (U2OS). We found that AQHAR caused growth arrest/apoptosis of U2OS cells in a dose-dependent manner. It showed no cytotoxicity to TIG-3 cells at doses up to 50 μg/ml. Biochemical, imaging and cell cycle analyses revealed that it induces ROS signaling and DNA damage response selectively in cancer cells. The latter showed upregulation of p53, p21 and downregulation of Cyclin B1 and phospho-Rb. Furthermore, AQHAR-induced apoptosis was mediated by increase in pro-apoptotic proteins including cleaved PARP, caspases and Bax. Anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 showed decrease in AQHAR-treated U2OS cells. In vivo xenograft tumor assays in nude mice revealed dose-dependent suppression of tumor growth and lung metastasis with no toxicity to the animals suggesting that AQHAR could be a potent and safe natural drug for cancer treatment.

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Shuang Sun

Papers

Purification, antitumor and immunomodulatory activity of polysaccharides from soybean residue fermented with Morchella esculenta.

Characterization of polysaccharide from Helicteres angustifolia L. and its immunomodulatory activities on macrophages RAW264.7.

Functional Characterisation of Anticancer Activity in the Aqueous Extract of Helicteres angustifolia L. Roots

In vitro and in vivo bioactivities of aqueous and ethanol extracts from Helicteres angustifolia L. root.

Immunomodulatory activity of polysaccharide from Helicteres angustifolia L. on 4T1 tumor-bearing mice