Anti-metastatic activity of glycoprotein fractionated from Acanthopanax senticosus, involvement of NK-cell and macrophage activation.

Previously, we reported that water-extracted Acanthopanax senticosus exhibited anti-metastatic activity by stimulating the immune system. In this study, we fractionated glycoproteins (EN-SP) from the soluble protein layer (GF-AS) of A. senticosus and determined their basic chemical properties. We also investigated the anti-tumor and immunostimulating activities of the fractionated glycoprotein, EN-SP. We found that intravenous (i.v.) administration of GF-AS dramatically inhibited metastasis of colon26-M3.1 carcinoma cells to the lung in a dose-dependent manner. In vitro analysis showed GF-AS to enhance the proliferation of splenocytes. GF-AS also stimulated peritoneal macrophage, which was followed by the production of various cytokines such as IL-1beta, TNF-alpha, IL-12 and IFN-gamma. Furthermore, the production of these cytokines was partially blocked when peritoneal macrophage was cultured with the polyclonal antibodies against GF-AS. The depletion of NK cells by rabbit anti-asialo GM1 serum partly abolished the inhibitory effect of GF-AS on lung metastasis of colon26-M3.1 cells. Using gel filtration, EN-SP, an active glycoprotein fraction, is isolated from GF-AS. While both GF-AS and EN-SP stimulated the proliferatation of splenocytes of normal mice, EN-SP showed higher anti-metastatic activity and more potently stimulated the proliferation of splenocytes compared to GF-AS. These results suggest the use of EN-SP, the fractionated glycoprotein from A. senticosus, can be used as a therapeutical reagent to prevent or inhibit tumor metastasis.