Abstract: Objective: This study is aimed to investigate the inhibitory effect of chondroitin sulfate from sturgeon bone on the proliferation of colorectal cancer cells and to elucidate the underlying mechanism. Methods: Three representative colorectal cancer cells (Caco-2, HCT-116, and SW480) were used in this study. Cell growth and proliferation was tested by cell counting kit-8（CCK-8) method. Colorectal cancer cell line HCT-116 was used to further investigate the pro-apoptotic ability of sturgeon chondroitin sulfate. Cell cycle and apoptosis were determined by flow cytometry. Cell morphology was observed after cell staining. Apoptosis was evaluated by caspase-3 activity. Our study indicated that sturgeon chondroitin sulfate significantly inhibit the cell proliferation of Caco-2, HCT-116 and SW480 cells with a percentage suppression of 70.94%, 90.00% and 75.00%, respectively. After sturgeon chondroitin sulfate treatment, the G1/G0 phase increased to 88.56% and the S phase declined to 4.47%. Meanwhile, sturgeon chondroitin sulfate-treated cells exhibited morphological changes, nuclear pyknosis and cell fragmentation, and significantly increased apoptotic enzyme activity (1 645 IU/μg) with an apoptosis rate of 63.73%. Sturgeon chondroitin sulfate showed potential anticancer activity, which will make it a new functional food ingredient.

Key words: sturgeon chondroitin sulfate, colorectal cancer, cell proliferation, apoptosis