Effects of Different Molecular Weight Polysaccharides From Dendrobium officinale Kimura & Migo on Human Colorectal Cancer and Transcriptome Analysis of Differentially Expressed Genes

Shengchang Tao; Zhiyao Ren; Zerui Yang; Shuna Duan; Zhongxian Wan; Jiahui Huang; Chenxing Liu; Gang Wei

doi:10.3389/fphar.2021.704486

Effects of Different Molecular Weight Polysaccharides From Dendrobium officinale Kimura & Migo on Human Colorectal Cancer and Transcriptome Analysis of Differentially Expressed Genes

Front Pharmacol. 2021 Dec 3:12:704486. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2021.704486. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Shengchang Tao^{1

2}, Zhiyao Ren^{3

4

5}, Zerui Yang¹, Shuna Duan^{1

6}, Zhongxian Wan¹, Jiahui Huang^{1

6}, Chenxing Liu^{1

6}, Gang Wei¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China.
² Department of Pharmacy, Affiliated Dongguan Hospital, Southern Medical University, Dongguan, China.
³ Department of Systems Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
⁴ NHC Key Laboratory of Male Reproduction and Genetics, Guangzhou, China.
⁵ Department of Central Laboratory, Family Planning Research Institute of Guangdong Province, Guangzhou, China.
⁶ Shaoguan Institute of Danxia Dendrobium Officinale, Shaoguan, China.

Abstract

We investigated the antitumor effects of four fractions of Dendrobium officinale Kimura & Migo (D. officinale) polysaccharides with different molecular weights (Mw), Astragalus membranaceus polysaccharides (APS) and Lentinus edodes polysaccharides (LNT) on colorectal cancer (CRC) using a zebrafish xenograft model. Transcriptome sequencing was performed to further explore the possible antitumor mechanisms of D. officinale polysaccharides. Fractions of D. officinale polysaccharides, LNT, and APS could significantly inhibit the growth of HT-29 cells in a zebrafish xenograft model. One fraction of D. officinale polysaccharides called DOPW-1 (Mw of 389.98 kDa) exhibited the strongest tumor inhibition. Compared with the control group, RNA-seq revealed that the DOPW-1-treated experimental group had 119 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), of which 45 had upregulated expression and 74 had downregulated expression. Analyses using Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes suggested that the pathway "apoptosis-multiple species" was the most significantly enriched. Our data indicated that 1) fractions of D. officinale polysaccharides of Mw 389.98 kDa were most suitable against CRC; 2) DOPW-1 could be developed into a clinical agent against CRC; and 3) an apoptosis pathway is important for DOPW-1 to inhibit the proliferation of HT-29 cells.

Keywords: Astragalus membranaceus polysaccharides; Dendrobium officinale Kimura & Migo; Lentinus edodes polysaccharides; RNA sequencing; colorectal cancer; molecular weight; polysaccharide.