In this study, a simple aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) was employed for concurrent purification of oyster polysaccharides. The chemical structure and anti-tumor activities of purified oyster polysaccharides (OP-1) were also investigated. Under optimal ATPS conditions, oyster polysaccharides can be partitioned in the bottom phase with 67.02% extraction efficiency. The molecular weight of OP-1 was determined as 3480 Da. OP-1 is a (1→4)-α-d-glucosyl backbone and branching points located at O-3 of glucose with a terminal-d-Glcp. The anti-tumor activity assay showed that OP-1 exhibited good activities, including promotion of splenocyte proliferation, IL-2 release, and inhibition of HepG2 cell proliferation. Additionally, OP-1 had no in vivo toxicity. This finding suggests that ATPS is a much simpler and greener system, and it opens up new possibilities in the large-scale separation of active polysaccharides from oysters. OP-1 could be used by the health food and pharmaceutical therapies as potential anti-cancer adjuvants.
Keywords: Crassostrea gigas; anti-tumor activity; aqueous two-phase system; polysaccharides.