Evaluation of Sulfated Lentinus Edodes α-(1→3)-D-Glucan as a Potential Antitumor Agent

Abstract

  α-Glucan L-FV-II and β-glucan L-FV-I were shown to co-exist in the extract of fruiting bodies of Lentinus edodes with aq. 5% NaOH/0.05% NaBH₄ in previous work. Water-insoluble α-(1→3)-D-glucan (L-FV-II) was treated with sulfur trioxide-pyridine complex at 25°C to synthesize the water-soluble sulfated derivative SL-FV-II with a degree of substitution (DS) 1.1 in non-selective sulfation. The weight-average molecular weight (M_w) of sulfated glucan SL-FV-II is 57% of that of the original α-glucan L-FV-II. The α-glucan administered by gavaging at a dose of 50 mg/kg of body weight to BALB/C mice having implanted solid Sarcoma 180 was effective at an inhibition rate of 42%. In vitro experiments using human and murine tumor cell lines showed that SL-FV-II had antiproliferation activity at the concentration of 20 μg/mL towards four tumor cell lines. The sulfated α-(1→3)-D-glucan had potent antiproliferation action (52%) on human MCF-7 breast carcinoma cells.