Studies on antitumor polysaccharides, especially D-II, from mycelium of Coriolus versicolor.

A water-soluble polysaccharide, D-II with marked antitumor activity was isolated from the cultured mycelium of Coriolus versicolor by extraction with hot-water, fractional precipitation with ethanol and ion-exchange chromatography. D-II strongly inhibited the growth of Sarcoma-180 transplanted subcutaneously in mice by intraperitoneal, intravenous, subcutaneous or intra-muscular administration at a dose of 5 mg/kg. the molecular weight was estimated to be 2,000,000 by gel-filtration or 6,500,000 by light scattering analysis. The chemical structure of D-II was then investigated by periodate oxidation, methylation analysis, Smith degradation, and a combination of controlled Smith degradation and methylation analysis. These studies proposed that D-II is composed of a unit structure of four D-glucose residues, and is a glucan consisting of beta-D-1,3-linked main chain in which one for every three D-glucose residues is branched at C-6 with beta-D-1,6-linkage.