AUTHOR=Zhang Guifeng , Liu Chuang , Zhang Rentang 

TITLE=A novel acidic polysaccharide from blackened jujube: Structural features and antitumor activity in vitro

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Nutrition

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2022.1001334

DOI=10.3389/fnut.2022.1001334

ISSN=2296-861X

ABSTRACT=Liver cancer is one of the most common cancers, with increasing trends in incidence and mortality. In this study, the structure of an acidic blackened jujube polysaccharide (BJP-2) purified from Z. jujuba cv. Huizao was characterized as follows: molecular weight of 6.42×104 Da, monosaccharide composition of GalA, Ara, Gal, Rha, Xyl, GlcA, Glc, Fuc and Man with the percentage of 39.78%, 31.93%, 16.86%, 6.43%, 1.86%, 1.28%, 1.02%, 0.61% and 0.23%, as well as the main chain of →5)-α-L-Araf(1→4)-β-D-Gal(1→, T-α-L-Araf(1→4)-β-D-Gal(1→, and →4)-α-L-6MeGalAp(1→. The effect of BJP-2 on the apoptosis of HepG2 cells and its anti-tumor mechanism were further explored. The analysis by MTT and flow cytometry showed that BJP-2 suppressed cell proliferation by inducing apoptosis in a concentration-dependent manner. Cell scratching and Transwell revealed that BJP-2 was able to block the invasion and metastasis of tumor cells. Western blot findings demonstrated that BJP-2 exhibited antitumor activity through a mitochondria-dependent pathway, as evidenced by overexpression of Bax, Cleaved Caspase-3/Caspase-3 and Cleaved Caspase-9/Caspase-9 and downregulation of Bcl-2. Therefore, BJP-2 has broad research prospects as a tumor preventive or therapeutic agent.