Antitumor and Immunopotentiating Activity of Polysaccharide PST001 Isolated from the Seed Kernel ofTamarindus indica: An In Vivo Study in Mice

Abstract

Antitumor activity of polysaccharide PST001 isolated from the seed kernel of Tamarindus indica was evaluated using different cancer cell lines. Human cancer cell lines A549, KB, and MCF-7 and murine cancer cell lines DLA and EAC were treated with PST001 and cell growth inhibition was assessed by MTT assay. In vivo studies were carried out for toxicity, tumor reduction and immunomodulation. The respective IC50 of PST001 in A549, KB, and DLA was at 80.72, 190.99, and 91.14 μg/mL. Significant tumor reduction was obtained in both DLA and EAC tumors on treatment with PST001 which was more prominent when PST001 was administered with CTX/5-fluorouracil. Increase in total WBC, CD4+ T-cell population, and bone marrow cellularity suggested strong immunomodulatory activity for this compound. No significant abnormality was observed in toxicity studies. Thus the results of the present study suggest that PST001 has immunomodulatory and tumor inhibitory activities and has the potential to be developed as an anticancer agent and immunomodulator either as a sole agent or as an adjuvant to other chemotherapeutic drugs.

Anticancer activity of galactoxyloglucan polysaccharide-conjugated doxorubicin nanoparticles: Mechanistic insights and interactome analysis

“…After considering the potent effects of PST-Dox on cancer cells, we next aimed at evaluating for any toxic effects in normal lymphocytes. Previously, it has been reported that the parent polymer PST001 does not elicit any notable toxic effects in normal cells in vitro and in vivo [14,15]. In line with this observation, we presumed that PST-Dox would not have serious deleterious effects on normal cells.…”

“…The detailed isolation protocol was followed as reported earlier [15,18]. Carbohydrate content was determined colorimetrically by phenol-sulfuric acid method of Dubois [20].…”

“…The above polysaccharide (PST001) was isolated and extensively characterized in our laboratory for various studies. As has been previously reported, PST001 is a non-toxic galactoxyloglucan polymer with impeccable anticancer and immunomodulatory properties [14][15][16]. Gold nanoparticles, which were prepared using PST001 (PST-Gold), exhibited superior in vitro and in vivo tumor-specific cytotoxicity and immunostimulatory effects [17,18].…”

Bioactivities in the tamarind seed extracts: A preliminary study

“…Its seeds are often considered useless and wasted by the common household because of their flavorless and brittle consistency. Various chemical laboratories around the world inquisitively have found a rich presence of various amino acids, flavonoids, polyphenols, and other biological essentials within the seeds (11) and have advocated their anticancer and anti-stress potentials (11,13,(16)(17)(18)(19)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25).…”

“…Presence of different compounds makes different parts of the plant unique in function. While the leaf extract of TI had anti-apoptotic effects (13), its whole-seed, seed-kernel-derived and seed-coat-derived extracts had antioxidant (21), cytotoxic (22), and immuno-protective (23,24,25) effects, respectively. In the present study, we have prepared the aqueous and ethanol extracts of tamarind seeds, and examined their cytotoxicity, anti-stress and anti-melanogenesis properties by human cell-based assays.…”