Echinacea purpurea-derived homogeneous polysaccharide exerts anti-tumor efficacy via facilitating M1 macrophage polarization

Wenkai Ren; Junfeng Ban; Yaoyao Xia; Fang Zhou; Caihong Yuan; Huanhuan Jia; Hailan Huang; Mingmin Jiang; Minjian Liang; Zhaodong Li; Youyong Yuan; Yulong Yin; Hong Wu

doi:10.1016/j.xinn.2023.100391

Echinacea purpurea-derived homogeneous polysaccharide exerts anti-tumor efficacy via facilitating M1 macrophage polarization

Innovation (Camb). 2023 Feb 9;4(2):100391. doi: 10.1016/j.xinn.2023.100391. eCollection 2023 Mar 13.

Authors

Wenkai Ren¹, Junfeng Ban^{1

2

3}, Yaoyao Xia¹, Fang Zhou^{1

4}, Caihong Yuan^{1

2}, Huanhuan Jia^{1

2

5}, Hailan Huang^{1

2}, Mingmin Jiang^{1

2}, Minjian Liang^{1

2}, Zhaodong Li¹, Youyong Yuan⁶, Yulong Yin⁷, Hong Wu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-Bioresources, Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China.
² Guangdong Technology Research Center for Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine and Natural Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China.
³ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Drug Delivery Systems, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
⁴ Sericulture & Agri-Food Research Institute Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Functional Foods, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Agricultural Products Processing, Guangzhou 510640, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Guangdong Laboratory Animals, Guangdong Laboratory Animals Monitoring Institute, Guangzhou 510663, China.
⁶ School of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou International Campus, Guangzhou 511442, China.
⁷ Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha 511442, China.

Abstract

Echinacea purpurea modulates tumor progression, but the underlying mechanism is poorly defined. We isolated and purified a novel homogeneous polysaccharide from E. purpurea (EPPA), which was shown to be an arabinogalactan with a mean molecular mass (Mr) of 3.8 × 10⁴ Da and with α- (1 → 5) -L-Arabinan as the backbone and α-L-Araf-(1→, →6)-β-D-Galp-(1→, and →4)-α-D-GalpA-(1→ as the side chains. Interestingly, oral administration of EPPA suppresses tumor progression in vivo and shapes the immune cell profile (e.g., facilitating M1 macrophages) in tumor microenvironment by single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis. More importantly, EPPA activates the inflammasome through a phagocytosis-dependent mechanism and rewires transcriptomic and metabolic profile, thereby potentiating M1 macrophage polarization. Collectively, we propose that EPPA supplementation could function as an adjuvant therapeutic strategy for tumor suppression.