Effect of chitosan oligosaccharide-conjugated selenium on improving immune function and blocking gastric cancer growth

Abstract Selenium (Se) is a potential chemopreventive or chemotherapeutic agent against malignant tumor. Selenium-oligosaccharides are important selenium source of dietary supplementation. Due to the insufficient natural production, it is therefore urgent to develop selenium-oligosaccharides by artificial synthesis. Chitosan, the N-deacetylated derivative of chitin, has been applied widely in biomedical field, owing to its nontoxicity, hydrophilicity, biocompatibility, and biodegradation. While chitosan is water insoluble at neutral pH, limiting its application in physiological conditions. Chitosan oligosaccharide (COS), the hydrolysate of chitosan, is readily soluble in water because of the shorter chain lengths of the oligomers and the free amino groups in the D-glucosamine units. This study was aimed at preparing COS-conjugated selenium (COS–Se) and examining the toxicity and ability on improving immune function and blocking gastric cancer growth. Our results demonstrated that COS–Se displayed directly co-mitogenic and mitogenic actions on mouse splenocytes proliferation in vitro. Besides, COS–Se treatment could effectively elevate phagocytosis and increase the secretion of anti-inflammatory cytokine in mouse peritoneal macrophages. Further in vivo experiments showed that COS–Se exhibited immuno-enhancing effects through promoting the phagocytic index, spleen index and thymus index with no obvious toxicity to Kunming mice. Moreover, COS–Se inhibited proliferation and metastasis of human gastric cancer cells, with non-toxic effects on the normal fibroblast cells in vitro. COS–Se supplementation could significantly repress the growth of gastric adenocarcinoma through reducing levels of CD34, vascular endothelial growth factor and matrix metalloproteinase-9 of nude mice. In conclusion, COS–Se was non-toxic and showed great potential as a functional food ingredient in cancer prevention.