Abstract:

Objective: To explore the synergistic antitumor activity of polysaccharides from different matrices in
vitro. Methods: Polysaccharides from Graciaria lemaneiformis (PGL), polysaccharide from Porphyra haitanensis
(PPH) and Coprinus comatus (PCC) were evaluated for their individual and synergistic inhibitory effect on the in
vitro growth of human cervical cancer HeLa cells by MTT method. Results: PGL, PPH and PCC blended in a ratio
of 6:6:3 had a significant inhibitory effect on HeLa cells in a dose-dependent manner and an inhibitory rate of
76.30% was obtained at 1000 μg/mL, which was higher than that of PGL (59.63%), PPH (35.64%) and PCC (41.40%)
alone at the same dosage. Morphological observation showed that the number of viable HeLa cells revealed a
gradual reduction and correspondingly, the number of apoptotic or dead cells revealed an obvious increase as the
total polysaccharide dosage increased in a certain range. QRT-PCR detection results showed that polysaccharide
blend could induce apoptosis through improving the gene expression level of apoptosis proteases such as caspase-10
and caspase-3 in HeLa cells. Conclusion: PGL, PPH and PCC have synergistic antitumor effect and could induce the
apoptosis and necrosis of HeLa cells.

Key words: polysaccharide blend, polysaccharide from red algae, polysaccharide from Coprinus comatus, antitumor activity