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Glycobiology Advance Access originally published online on January 22, 2004
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Glycobiology vol 14 no 6 pp. 501-510, 2004
Glycobiology vol. 14 no. 6 © Oxford University Press 2004; all rights reserved.

Chemical and biological characterization of a polysaccharide biological response modifier from Aloe vera L. var. chinensis (Haw.) Berg.

M.Y.K. Leung2, C. Liu3, L.F. Zhu4, Y.Z. Hui5, B. Yu5 and K.P. Fung1,2,3

2 Institute of Chinese Medicine, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong, People's Republic of China; 3 Department of Biochemistry, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong, People's Republic of China; 4 South China Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China; and 5 Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, People's Republic of China

Received on July 31, 2003; revised on December 2, 2003; accepted on December 19, 2003

Three purified polysaccharide fractions designated as PAC-I, PAC-II, and PAC-III were prepared from Aloe vera L. var. chinensis (Haw.) Berg. by membrane fractionation and gel filtration HPLC. The polysaccharide fractions had molecular weights of 10,000 kDa, 1300 kDa, and 470 kDa, respectively. The major sugar residue in the polysaccharide fractions is mannose, which was found to be91.5% in PAC-I, 87.9% in PAC-II, and 53.7% in PAC-III. The protein contents in the polysaccharide fractions was undetectable. NMR study of PAC-I and PAC-II demonstrated the polysaccharides shared the same structure. The main skeletons of PAC-I and PAC-II are ß-(1->4)-D linked mannose with acetylation at C-6 of manopyranosyl. The polysaccharide fractions stimulated peritoneal macrophages, splenic T and B cell proliferation, and activated these cells to secrete TNF-{alpha}, IL-1ß, INF-{gamma}, IL-2, and IL-6. The polysaccharides were nontoxic and exhibited potent indirect antitumor response in murine model. PAC-I, which had the highest mannose content and molecular weight, was found to be the most potent biological response modifier of the three fractions. Our results suggested that the potency of aloe polysaccharide fraction increases as mannose content and molecular weight of the polysaccharide fraction increase.

1 To whom correspondence should be addressed; e-mail: kpfung{at}cuhk.edu.hk


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