Antitumor Activity of an Acidic Heteropolysaccharide IsolatedFrom Auricularia Auricula-Judae

A water soluble acidic heteropolysaccharide named wAF was isolated from Auricularia auricula-judae. It composed of a backbone of α(1→3)-linked D-mannopyranose residues. WAF fractions exhibited strong inhibition against Acinar cell carcinoma proliferation in vitro test. It significantly inhibited tumour growth in dose-dependent way in BALB/c mice. Moreover, the enhancement ratios of mice body weight for all wAF fractions were higher than that for 5-Fluorouracil, which is a chemotherapeutic anticancer agent. Fluorescence microscopy and tumour tissues cell morphology observation indicated that wAF3 fraction induced apoptosis of tumour cell. Immunohistochemistry for apoptosis-related proteins Bax and Bcl-2 expression revealed that wAF3 induced S-180 tumour cell apoptosis by up-regulation of Bax and down-regulation of Bcl2. These findings confirmed that the wAF polysaccharide had good antitumour activity and could be considered as a potential antitumor agent. Received date: 26/09/2015 Accepted date: 20/10/2015 Published date: 29/10/2015