Effects of carboxymethyl chitosan oligosaccharide on regulating immunologic function and inhibiting tumor growth

Abstract Herein, the effects of carboxymethyl chitosan oligosaccharide (CM-COS) on regulating immunologic function and inhibiting hepatocellular tumor growth were evaluated. Results showed that CM-COS caused dramatic viability loss of hepatocellular carcinoma BEL-7402 with non-toxicity towards normal liver L-02 cells. CM-COS repressed tumor growth of hepatoma-22, and elevated the spleen index and thymus index of tumor-bearing mice. Contents of VEGF and MMP-9 were significantly down-regulated by CM-COS. Histological analyses revealed that CM-COS promoted tumor cell necrosis and produced no significant toxicity to spleen tissues. Moreover, expressions of Caspase-3 in tumor tissues and IL-2 in spleen tissues were significantly activated by CM-COS. Additionally, in vitro cell viability, phagocytic capability and NO production of mouse peritoneal macrophages exposed to CM-COS were significantly higher. CM-COS remarkably increased the in vivo phagocytosing capacity of peritoneal macrophages of Kunming mice. Taken together, our findings suggested that CM-COS might be potentially effective and non-toxic candidate as anti-hepatoma agents.