Isolation, Purification and Bioactivity of Polysaccharides from Cirsium japonicum DC

In this study, polysaccharides Cirsium japonicum DC (CJP) were extracted using both cold and hot water. CJP was then purified by ion exchange resin and chromatography. Results showed that it contained 9.64% of uronic acid and 2.64% of protein. Structural analysis indicated that CJP contained several polysaccharides with different molecular weight of 74.1 kD, 47.0 kD, 5.2 kD and 3.0 kD respectively. Furthermore, HPLC analysis showed that CJP was mainly composed of the following eight monosaccharides: Man (5.50%), Rha (6.73%), GlcA (1.14%), GalA (7.57%), Glc (21.00%), Gal (25.32%), Xyl (3.98%), and Ara (28.75%). Moreover, luciferase report gene assay demonstrated that CJP promoted the activation of both p53 and Rb, two genes playing important role in the development of tumor, indicating a potential antitumor activity for CJP.