A novel polysaccharide derived from algae extract induces apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in human gastric carcinoma MKN45 cells via ROS/JNK signaling pathway

: In recent years, interest in biological activities of compounds from marine organisms has intensified. Cancer is the most principal enemy for human life and health. For the first time, to the best of our knowledge, we investigated a novel algae-derived polysaccharide for its role in inducing apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in human gastric carcinoma MKN45 cells. We found that the novel polysaccharide suppressed MKN45 cell proliferation, induced cell apoptosis and arrested the cells at G2/M phase. Furthermore, we observed that the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the phosphorylation of Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), p53, caspase-9 and -3 were induced in the polysaccharide-treated MKN45 cells. In addition, pretreatment with N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) and SP600125, the inhibitor of ROS and JNK, induced MKN45 cell proliferation, prevented the cell apoptosis and released the cells from cycle arrest. Finally, we found that pretreatment with NAC prevented the JNK, p53, caspase-9 and -3 protein phosphorylation induced by the polysaccharide, however, pretreatment with SP600125 did not affect the generation of ROS, suggesting that ROS is upstream of JNK. Taken together, the novel polysaccharide induced cancer cell apoptosis and arrested cell cycle via ROS/JNK signaling pathway.