Chemical composition and antitumor activity of different polysaccharides from the roots of Actinidia eriantha

Four polysaccharides (AEPA, AEPB, AEPC and AEPD) isolated and purified from the roots of Actinidia eriantha using gel filtration were subjected to composition analysis and valuated for the antitumor and immunomodulatory activity. The predominant neutral monosaccharides in four fractions were identified as galactose, arabinose and fucose, while the composition and ratio of the monosaccharides were different from one another. All four polysaccharides could significantly not only inhibit the growth of transplantable S180 sarcoma in mice, but promote splenocytes proliferation, natural killer cells activity, interleukin-2 production from splenocytes and serum tumor antigen-specific antibody levels in tumor-bearing mice, indicating that their antitumor activity might be achieved by improving immune response. Among four polysaccharides, AEPC and AEPD showed the higher antitumor and immunomodulatory activity. Taken together, the chemical composition of these polysaccharides could affect their antitumor and immunomodulatory activity, and AEPC and AEPD could be explored as antitumor agent with immunomodulatory activity. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.