Pectin Oligosaccharides Ameliorate Colon Cancer by Regulating Oxidative Stress- and Inflammation-Activated Signaling Pathways

Abstract

Colon cancer (CC) is the third common neoplasm worldwide, and it is still a big challenge for exploring new effective medicine for treating CC. Natural product promoting human health has become a hot topic and attracted many researchers recently. Pectin, a complex polysaccharide in plant cell wall, mainly consists of four major types of polysaccharides: homogalacturonan, xylogalacturonan, rhamnogalacturonan I and II, all of which can be degraded into various pectin oligosaccharides (POS) and may provide abundant resource for exploring potential anticancer drugs. POS have been regarded as a novel class of potential functional food with multiple health-promoting properties. POS have antibacterial activities against some aggressive and recurrent bacterial infection and exert beneficial immunomodulation for controlling CC risk. However, the molecular functional role of POS in the prevention of CC risk and progression remains doubtful. The review focuses on antioxidant and anti-inflammatory roles of POS for promoting human health by regulating some potential oxidative and inflammation-activated pathways, such as ATP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor-2 (Nrf2), and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) pathways. The activation of these signaling pathways increases the antioxidant and antiinflammatory activities, which will result in the apoptosis of CC cells or in the prevention of CC risk and progression. Thus, POS may inhibit CC development by affecting antioxidant and antiinflammatory signaling pathways AMPK, Nrf2, and NF-κB. However, POS also can activate signal transduction and transcriptional activator 1 and 3 signaling pathway, which will reduce antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and promote CC progression. Specific structural and structurally modified POS may be associated with their functions and should be deeply explored in the future. The present review paper lacks the important information for the linkage between the specific structure of POS and its function. To further explore the effects of prebiotic potential of POS and their derivatives on human immunomodulation in the prevention of CC, the specific POS with a certain degree of polymerization or purified polymers are highly demanded to be performed in clinical practice.

Fucose Ameliorates Tryptophan Metabolism and Behavioral Abnormalities in a Mouse Model of Chronic Colitis

“…There are multiple reports that investigate the ameliorating effect of oligosaccharides, sugars, and proteoglycans on inflammation [15,[82][83][84][85][86]. However, there are just a few papers [87,88], that focus on their effect on other aspects of complex diseases such as UC and CD. In the present study, we demonstrated that the modulation of the host microflora by a monosaccharide fucose did not affect the severity of the chronic colitis in terms of the intestinal inflammatory response, but partially ameliorated the changes in metabolism and behavior.…”

A review of current and future food applications of natural hydrocolloids

“…Tan et al . () successfully employed this strategy with hydrocolloids such as xanthan, carrageenan or locust bean gum to improve water holding capacity of dough and increase quality (e.g. cooking yield and firmness) of obtained cooked salt free noodles.…”

“…Furthermore, interactions (ionic and H-bonding) of gluten and starch in dough with different nonionic (guar gum, locust bean gum) and anionic (alginate, pectin, carrageenan, xhantan gum) hydrocolloids could be exploited to improve rheological, pasting or fermentation behaviours of the dough . Tan et al (2018a) successfully employed this strategy with hydrocolloids such as xanthan, carrageenan or locust bean gum to improve water holding capacity of dough and increase quality (e.g. cooking yield and firmness) of obtained cooked salt free noodles.…”

Production of Oligosaccharides from Agrofood Wastes

“…This property is also present in their oligomers, which also show a prebiotic activity that controls microbiota population in the gastrointestinal tract [9,26].A well-known heteropolysaccharide in vegetable and fruit peels is pectin. Its composition and structure are notably more complex than the ones of the other polysaccharides typically encountered in lignocellulosic biomass [27]. Linear regions conformed only by α-1,4 linked galacturonic acid are known as homogalacturonans, while there are other parts of pectin rich in rhamnose that are branched or hairy regions.…”

“…Rhamnogalacturonan I contains a main chain of rhamnose and galacturonic acid with lateral chains of galactose and arabinose, with several types of bonds. Rhamnogalacturonan II can contain, apart from all those monomers previously mentioned, other rare ones as apiose and aceric acid [27]. Though pectin is a typical food ingredient for jellies, marmalades and jams, its slow degradation in the intestine permits its use with calcium salts to treat diarrhea, it can ameliorate diverse colon cancer, promoting gut health by controlling microbiota populations (a prebiotic effect) [27,28].…”