Structures and anti-melanoma activities of two polysaccharides from Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels

A polysaccharide PRCP from Rosa cymosa Tratt fruit: Structural characteristics and immunomodulatory effects via MAPK pathway modulation in vitro

The Rosa cymosa Tratt, an herbal plant from the Rosaceae family, has historically been valued in China for its medicinal and edible properties. In this study, a novel polysaccharide from R. cymosa fruit, termed PRCP (purified R. cymosa polysaccharide), was isolated using water extraction, decolorization, deproteinization, and ion-exchange chromatography. The structural characteristics of PRCP were investigated using monosaccharide composition analysis, methylation, GPC, FTIR, CD, and NMR spectroscopy. The immunomodulatory effect and potential mechanism of PRCP were evaluated in vitro using a macrophage cell model. Results indicated that PRCP (37.28 kDa) is a highly branched polysaccharide (72.61 %) primarily composed of arabinogalactan, rhamnogalacturonan, and galactoglucan domains with 13 types of glycosidic linkage fragments. Furthermore, PRCP appears to modulate immunomodulatory effects by influencing the phosphorylation of P38 and JNK proteins in the MAPK pathway. Collectively, these findings highlight the potential of PRCP as a promising natural functional food ingredient for immunostimulation.

The angelica Polysaccharide: a review of phytochemistry, pharmacology and beneficial effects on systemic diseases

Angelica sinensis is a perennial herb widely distributed around the world, and angelica polysaccharide (APS) is a polysaccharide extracted from Angelica sinensis. APS is one of the main active components of Angelica sinensis. A large number of studies have shown that APS has hematopoietic, promoting blood circulation, radiation resistance, lowering blood glucose, enhancing the body immunity and other pharmacological effects in a variety of diseases. However, different extraction methods and extraction sites greatly affect the efficacy of APS. In recent years, with the emerging of new technologies, there are more and more studies on the combined application and structural modification of APS. In order to promote the comprehensive development and in-depth application of APS, this narrative review systematically summarizes the effects of different drying methods and extraction sites on the biological activity of APS, and the application of APS in the treatment of diseases, hoping to provide a scientific basis for the experimental study and clinical application of APS.

Comprehensive molecular analyses of cuproptosis-related genes with regard to prognosis, immune landscape, and response to immune checkpoint blockers in lung adenocarcinoma

BACKGROUND

Recent studies have emphasized the importance of the biological processes of different forms of cell death in tumor heterogeneity and anti-tumor immunity. Nonetheless, the relationship between cuproptosis and lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) remains largely unexplored.

METHODS

Data for 793 LUAD samples and 59 normal lung tissues obtained from TCGA-LUAD cohort GEO datasets were used in this study. A total of 165 LUAD tissue samples and paired normal lung tissue samples obtained from our hospital were used to verify the prognostic value of dihydrolipoamide S-acetyltransferase (DLAT) and dihydrolipoamide branched chain transacylase E2 (DBT) for LUAD. The cuproptosis-related molecular patterns of LUAD were identified using consensus molecular clustering. Recursive feature elimination with random forest and a tenfold cross-validation method was applied to construct the cuproptosis score (CPS) for LUAD.

RESULTS

Bioinformatic and immunohistochemistry (IHC) analyses revealed that 13 core genes of cuproptosis were all significantly elevated in LUAD tissues, among which DBT and DLAT were associated with poor prognosis (DLAT, HR = 6.103; DBT, HR = 4.985). Based on the expression pattern of the 13 genes, two distinct cuproptosis-related patterns have been observed in LUAD: cluster 2 which has a relatively higher level of cuproptosis was characterized by immunological ignorance; conversely, cluster 1 which has a relatively lower level of cuproptosis is characterized by TILs infiltration and anti-tumor response. Finally, a scoring scheme termed the CPS was established to quantify the cuproptosis-related pattern and predict the prognosis and the response to immune checkpoint blockers of each individual patient with LUAD.

CONCLUSION

Cuproptosis was found to influence tumor microenvironment (TME) characteristics and heterogeneity in LUAD. Patients with a lower CPS had a relatively better prognosis, more abundant immune infiltration in the TME, and an enhanced response to immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Ultrasonic-assisted extraction of polysaccharide from Paeoniae Radix alba: Extraction optimization, structural characterization and antioxidant mechanism in vitro

Paeoniae Radix alba is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders, immunomodulatory, cancer, and other diseases. In the current study, the yield of Paeoniae Radix alba polysaccharide (PRP) was significantly increased with optimal ultrasound-assisted extraction compared to hot water extraction. Further, an acidic polysaccharide (PRP-AP) was isolated from PRP after chromatographic separation and was characterized as a typical pectic polysaccharide with side chains of arabinogalactans types I and II. Moreover, it showed antioxidant effects on LPS-induced damage on IPEC-J2 cells determined by qRT-PCR and ELISA, including decreasing the pro-inflammatory factors' expressions and increasing the antioxidant enzymes activities, which was shown to be related to the Nrf2/Keap1 pathway modulated by PRP-AP. The metabolites change (such as itaconate, cholesterol sulfate, etc.) detected by untargeted metabolomic analysis in cells was also shown to be modulated by PRP-AP, and these metabolites were further utilized and protected cells damaged by LPS. These results revealed the cellular active mechanism of the macromolecular PRP-AP on protecting cells, and supported the hypothesis that PRP-AP has strong benefits as an alternative dietary supplement for the prevention of intestinal oxidative stress by modulating cellular metabolism.

Traditional Chinese medicine polysaccharide in nano-drug delivery systems: Current progress and future perspectives

Traditional Chinese medicine polysaccharides (TCMPs) have gained increasing attention in the field of nanomedicine due to their diverse biological activities and favorable characteristics as drug carriers, including biocompatibility, biodegradability, safety, and ease of modification. TCMPs-based nano-drug delivery systems (NDDSs) offer several advantages, such as evasion of reticuloendothelial system (RES) phagocytosis, protection against biomolecule degradation, enhanced drug bioavailability, and potent therapeutic effects. Therefore, a comprehensive review of the latest developments in TCMPs-based NDDSs and their applications in disease therapy is of great significance. This review provides an overview of the structural characteristics and biological activities of TCMPs relevant to carrier design, the strategies employed for constructing TCMPs-based NDDSs, and the versatile role of TCMPs in these systems. Additionally, current challenges and future prospects of TCMPs in NDDSs are discussed, aiming to provide valuable insights for future research and clinical translation.

Angelica gigas polysaccharide induces CR3-mediated macrophage activation and the cytotoxicity of natural killer cells against HCT-116 cells via NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathways

Angelica gigas (A. gigas) is traditional medicinal herb that mainly exists in Korea and northeastern China. There have been relatively few studies conducted thus far on its polysaccharides and their bioactivities. We purified and described a novel water-soluble polysaccharide derived from A. gigas and investigated its immunoenhancing properties. The basic components of crude and purified polysaccharides (F1 and F2) were total sugar (41.07% - 70.55%), protein (1.12-10.33%), sulfate (2.9-5.5%), and uronic acids (0.5-31.05%) in total content. Our results demonstrated that the crude and fractions' molecular weights (Mw) varied from 42.2 to 285.2 × 103 g/mol. As the most effective polysaccharide, F2 significantly stimulated RAW264.7 cells to release nitric oxide (NO) and express several cytokines. Furthermore, F2 increased the expression of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interferon-gamma (IFN-ɣ), natural killer cytotoxicity receptors (NKp44), and granzyme-B in NK-92 cells and enhanced the cytotoxicity against HCT-116 cells. In our experiments, we found that F2 stimulated RAW264.7 cells and NK-92 cells via MAPK and NF-κB pathways. The monosaccharide and methylation analysis of the high immunostimulant F2 polysaccharide findings revealed that the polysaccharide was primarily composed of 1 → 4, 1 → 6, 1 → 3, 6, 1 → 3 and 1 → 3, 4, 6 galactopyranose residues, 1 → 3 arabinofuranose residues, 1 → 4 glucopyranose residues. These results demonstrated that the F2 polysaccharide of A. gigas which possesses potential immunostimulatory attributes, could be used to create a novel functional food.

A polysaccharide NAP-3 from Naematelia aurantialba: Structural characterization and adjunctive hypoglycemic activity

A novel polysaccharide (NAP-3) was isolated and purified from Naematelia aurantialba after water extraction. The structure of NAP-3, which was determined by FT-IR, HPLC, GC-MS, and NMR, indicated that NAP-3 was a homogeneous polysaccharide with the molecular weight of 428 kDa, mainly consisted of β-1, 3-D-Manp, β-1, 2, 3-D-Manp, β-D-Xylp, β-1, 4-D-Glcp, β-1, 4-D-Rhap in a molar ratio of 6.49: 1.11: 2.4: 0.13: 0.83. In vitro α-glucosidase and α-amylase inhibitory assay showed that NAP-3 had a low IC₅₀ value, which exhibited similar enzyme inhibitory activity as acarbose. NAP-3 was evaluated as an adjuvant with metformin for antidiabetic therapy in HFD/STZ-induced diabetic mice and insulin resistance HepG2 cells. The combination of NAP-3 and metformin in diabetic mice exhibited significant hypoglycemic activity, reducing body weight, serum insulin levels, glucose tolerance, insulin tolerance, and increasing antioxidant levels compared to metformin alone. The combination of NAP-3 and metformin improved oxidative stress by increasing ROS clearance, thereby enhancing glucose uptake in HepG2 cells. This study provided new data for the study of Naematelia aurantialba polysaccharides and offers a new adjuvant therapy for the treatment of diabetes.

Morphology, Solid Structure and Antioxidant Activity in Vitro of Angelica sinensis Polysaccharide-Ce(IV)

Angelica Sinensis polysaccharide cerium (ASP-Ce) was prepared by Angelica Sinensis polysaccharide (ASP) and cerium ammonium nitrate (NH₄ )₂ Ce(NO₃ )₆ . and its morphology, and solid structure was investigated. The antioxidant activity of the ASP-Ce complex in vitro was evaluated. The antioxidant activity of ASP-Ce complex in vitro was evaluated by the scavenging activity of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhyrazyl radical (DPPH), hydroxyl radical (⋅OH) and superoxide anion radical ( O 2 - ${{{\rm O}}_{2}^{-}}$ ⋅). The results showed that the ASP-Ce had the more ordered structure for inserting the Ce⁴⁺ into the polymer chain of ASP and there was little change in the conformation of the polysaccharide from Ce⁴⁺ . Three free radical scavenging experiments proved that ASP-Ce had better antioxidant capacity than of ASP, especially on DPPH, and then on O 2 - ${{{\rm O}}_{2}^{-}}$ ⋅. The scavenging rate of ASP-Ce at 1.0 mg/mL on DPPH reached 71.6 %. Therefore, these results provide references for the further development and utilization of rare earth-polysaccharide.

The structures of two polysaccharides from Angelica sinensis and their effects on hepatic insulin resistance through blocking RAGE

This study found two novel homogeneous polysaccharides from Angelica sinensis, APS-1I and APS-2II, binding to RAGE with a dissociation constant of 2.02 ± 0.2 and 85.92 ± 0.2 μM, respectively. APS-1I is a 17.0 kDa heteropolysaccharide, whose backbone is composed of α-1,6-Glcp, α-1,3,6-Glcp, α-1,2-Glcp, α-1,4-Galp, and α-1,3-Rhap, and whose two branches contain α-1,3,5-Araf, α-1,3-Araf, α-1,4-Galp, β-1,3-Galp, and β-1,4-Glcp. APS-2II is a 10.0 kDa linear glucan, that contains α-1,6-Glcp, α-1,3-Glcp, α-1,2-Glcp, and α-T-Glcp. In vitro, APS-1I demonstrated better promotion on glucose absorption and stronger repression on p-IRS-1 (Ser307), p-IRS-2 (Ser731), p-JNK, and p-P38 than APS-2II in insulin resistance (IR)-HepG2 cells. Furthermore, APS-1I treatment couldn't further decrease the inhibition on the phosphorylation of JNK and P38 produced by RAGE siRNA in IR-HepG2 cells. In vivo, APS-1I markedly improved IR and reversed the livers RAGE-JNK/p38-IRS signaling in high-fat-diet and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats, suggesting that APS-1I could be a potential agent for improving IR in type 2 diabetes.