Arabinogalactan derived from Lycium barbarum fruit inhibits cancer cell growth via cell cycle arrest and apoptosis.

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that crude polysaccharides from the Lycium barbarum fruit could inhibit cancer cell growth, but the major effective constituents are yet to be identified. In this study, we compared the effects of L. barbarum fruit polysaccharide fractions on the growth of hepatoma cells (SMMC-7721 and HepG2), cervical cancer cells (HeLa), gastric carcinoma cells (SGC-7901), and human breast cancer cells (MCF-7). LBGP-I-3 showed stronger inhibitory effects on MCF-7 cells (cell viability of 48.96%) than SMMC-7721 (cell viability of 78.91%) and HeLa cells (cell viability of 55.94%), and had no effect on HepG2 and SGC-7901 cells. In addition, LBGP-I-3 had no inhibitory effect on normal liver cells (L02, cell viability of 115.58%). Investigation of the underlying mechanism suggested that LBGP-I-3 inhibited the growth of cancer cells by cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. LBGP-I-3 arrested the cell cycle at the G0/G1 phase, altered mitochondrial function, activated oxidative stress, and regulated the MAPK signaling pathway to induce apoptosis. Thus, LBGP-I-3 may be a potential functional food ingredient for the prevention of cancer without toxicity to normal cells in vitro. These results could help further elucidate the structure-activity relationship of L. barbarum fruit polysaccharides and functional food development.

• Authors: Guiping Gong, Qian Liu, Yangni Deng, Tiantian Dang, Wei Dai, Tingting Liu, Yang Liu, Jing Sun, Langhong Wang, Yuxia Liu, Tingting Sun, Shuang Song, Zhongfu Wang, Linjuan Huang
• Journal: International journal of biological macromolecules (Int J Biol Macromol) Vol. 149 Pg. 639-650 (Apr 15 2020) ISSN: 1879-0003 [Electronic] Netherlands
• PMID: 31991207 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Chemical References

• Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic
• Drugs, Chinese Herbal
• Galactans
• Polysaccharides
• arabinogalactan

Topics

• Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic (pharmacology)
• Apoptosis (drug effects)
• Breast Neoplasms
• Cell Cycle (drug effects)
• Cell Cycle Checkpoints (drug effects)
• Cell Line
• Cell Line, Tumor
• Cell Survival (drug effects)
• China
• Drugs, Chinese Herbal (pharmacology)
• Female
• Fruit (chemistry)
• Galactans (chemistry, pharmacology)
• HeLa Cells (drug effects)
• Hep G2 Cells (drug effects)
• Humans
• Liver
• Lycium (chemistry)
• Phytotherapy
• Polysaccharides (chemistry, pharmacology)
• Stomach Neoplasms
• Uterine Cervical Neoplasms