[Investigation on antitumor mechanism of polysaccharide from medicinal fungus Penicillium jiangxiense].

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the possible antitumor mechanism of polysaccharide from medicinal fungus Penicillium jiangxiense.

METHODS

The cytotoxic effect was measured by MTT assay, and the cell cycle was analyzed by flow cytometry with Propidium iodide (PI) staining. To apoptotic detections, Hoechst 33258 staining for chromatin, annexin-V FITC/PI double staining for early phase cell apoptosis and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) for late phase cell apoptosis.

RESULTS

Both MPPJ4 and MPPJ5, the fine polysaccharide fractions from P. jiangxiense, showed slight cytotoxic effects to inhibit human gastric adenocarcinoma SGC-7901 cells proliferation, but significantly caused cell cycle arrest at the S phase, and the rate of cell population at the subG1 phase was evidently increased. In apoptotic assays, MPPJ5 was more potent than MMPJ4 in inducing tumor cells in a time-dependent manner at the range from 0 to 72 hours, comparable to the negative control.

CONCLUSION

The antitumor acting mechanism of P. jiangxiense polysaccharide is associated with the induction of apoptotic cell death and cell cycle arrest.