Antitumor polysaccharides from a Chinese mushroom, "yuhuangmo," the fruiting body of Pleurotus citrinopileatus.

A water-soluble polysaccharide, FI, and water-insoluble polysaccharides, FII and FIII were extracted from Pleurotus citrinopileatus mushrooms. After fractionation, the antitumor activity of the fractions against Sarcoma 180 implanted in mice were examined, and the following active polysaccharides were obtained: Water-soluble polysaccharides FIo: A heteropolysaccharide containing 9.8% protein, and composed of glucose, mannose, arabinose, and galactose. FA-2-b-beta: A glycoprotein consisting of glycan:protein = 40:60 w/w, with the glyco-chain composed of glucose, xylose, mannose, galactose, and fucose. FA-3: A glycoprotein consisting of glycan:protein = 50:50 w/w, and glycan moiety consisting of glucose, galactose, xylose, mannose, and fucose. Water-insoluble polysaccharides. FIII-1: Protein-containing beta-D-glucans, FIII-1-a, and -b were obtained from FIII-1 by gel filtration, composed of glucan:protein = 80:20, and 68:32 w/w, respectively. The glucan moieties of both were almost all (1-->3)-beta-D-glucan, and their molecular weights were 68 x 10(4) and 40 x 10(4). FIII-2: Protein-containing beta-D-glucans, FIII-2-a, and -b, were obtained from FIII-2 by gel filtration, with molecular weights 190 x 10(4) and 120 x 10(4), respectively. Both were almost all composed of glucan:protein = 87:13 w/w. Both glucan moieties were mainly (1-->3)-beta-D-glucan.