Strong electronic charge as an important factor for anticancer activity of chitooligosaccharides (COS).

Abstract

Even though several studies report the importance of chitosan derivatives for their anticancer activity, no clear information is available to describe the relationship between their charge properties and observed activities. In this research, differently charged chitooligosaccharide (COS) derivatives were synthesized and their anticancer activities were studied using three cancer cell lines, HeLa, Hep3B and SW480. Neutral red and MTT cell viability studies revealed that, highly charged COS derivatives could significantly reduce cancer cell viability, regardless to the positive or negative charge. Further, fluorescence microscopic observations and DNA fragmentation studies confirmed that the anticancer effect of these highly charged COS derivatives were due to necrosis. However, the exact molecular mechanism for anticancer activity of strongly charged COS compared to their poorly charged counterparts is not clear.

• Authors: Ronghua Huang, Eresha Mendis, Niranjan Rajapakse, Se-Kwon Kim
• Journal: Life sciences (Life Sci) Vol. 78 Issue 20 Pg. 2399-408 (Apr 11 2006) ISSN: 0024-3205 [Print] Netherlands
• PMID: 16310222 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Antineoplastic Agents
• Fluorescent Dyes
• Indicators and Reagents
• Oligosaccharides
• Tetrazolium Salts
• Thiazoles
• Neutral Red
• Chitosan
• Ethidium
• thiazolyl blue
• Acridine Orange

Topics

• Acridine Orange
• Antineoplastic Agents (chemistry, pharmacology)
• Cell Line, Tumor
• Cell Survival (drug effects)
• Chitosan (chemical synthesis, chemistry, pharmacology)
• DNA Fragmentation (drug effects)
• Electrochemistry
• Electrophoresis, Agar Gel
• Ethidium
• Fibroblasts (drug effects)
• Fluorescent Dyes
• Humans
• Indicators and Reagents
• Microscopy, Fluorescence
• Necrosis
• Neutral Red
• Oligosaccharides (chemical synthesis, chemistry, pharmacology)
• Tetrazolium Salts
• Thiazoles