Structural characterization of a heteropolysaccharide from fruit of Chaenomelese speciosa (Sweet) Nakai and its antitumor activity

Abstract The present study aimed at investigating the structural features and antitumor properties of a novel heteropolysaccharide (CSP-W-2) obtained from the fruit of Chaenomeles Speciosa (Sweet) Nakai. CSP-W-2 demonstrate that they mainly contain glucose, galactose, arabinose, mannose, xylose in a ratio of 3.7: 3.2: 1.7: 0.9: 0.4, with the molecular weight of 8.7 kDa. Its backbone is predominantly composed of 1,4 linked β-D-Galp, 1,4 linked α-D-Glcp, 1,4 linked β-D-Glcp, and 1,4,6-β-D-Glcp, additionally some branches contained 1,5 linked α-L-Araf, 1,4 linked β-D-Glcp, 1,3 linked α-L-Araf, and T linked β-D-Manp according to the results of partial acid hydrolysis analysis, methylation analysis, IR and NMR spectra. The antitumor properties study results demonstrated that CSP-W-2 had an inhibitory effect on HepG2 growth by enhancing the nucleus shrinkage and apoptosis. These findings indicate that CSP-W-2 had antitumor potential in the treatment of human liver tumor.