Antitumor activity of bee pollen polysaccharides from Rosa rugosa

Abstract

In the present study, bee pollen polysaccharides from Rosa rugosa (WRPP) were extracted and fractionated. WRPP were purified to neutral (WRPP-N) and acidic polysaccharides (WRPP-1, WRPP-2) with DEAE-Cellulose. WRPP-N were mainly composed of glucose, mannose, arabinose and galactose, indicating the existence of glucan, arabinogalactan (AG) and mannoglucan. WRPP-1 mainly consisted of rhamnose (3.0%), galacturonic acid (12.4%), galactose (24.7%) and arabinose (53.9%), and contained a large proportion of AGs. WRPP-2 consisted of rhamnose (7.8%), galacturonic acid (23.0%), galactose (15%) and arabinose (48.7%), while WRPP-2 contained more galacturonic acid compared to WRPP-1. WRPP-1 and WRPP-2 were composed by type I rhamnogalacturonan (RG-I), homogalacturonan (HG) and AG fragments, while WRPP-2 contained more HG and RG-I. All the fractions had significant anti-proliferative activity in HT-29 and HCT116 cells; the neutral and acidic fractions were shown to have significant synergistic effects which accounted for the antitumor activity of bee pollen polysaccharides from Rosa rugosa in vitro.