New insights into the anti- hepatoma mechanism of triple-helix β- glucan by metabolomics profiling

Natural polysaccharide as the third abundant biomacromolecule has attracted considerable attentions due to their superior anti-tumor activities. However, the anti-tumor mechanism of polysaccharides has not been completely understood. Herein, the anti-tumor effects of black fungus polysaccharide (BFP), a typical β-glucan was comprehensively investigated, and the anti-tumor mechanism was obtained from metabolomics profiling. The in vitro results demonstrate that BFP inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of hepatoma carcinoma cells (HCC) through inducing the cell apoptosis and arresting the cell cycle at S phase without direct cytotoxicity. The hepatoma-bearing nude mice experiments further demonstrate that BFP could significantly inhibit the growth without system toxicity in vivo. Mass spectrometry-based metabolomics unveils that BFP significantly disturbed the multiple metabolic pathways, leading to the inhibition of tumor cells proliferation by promoting DNA damage, attenuating DNA damage repair, and inhibiting DNA synthesis. This study provides new insights for pharmacological research and clinical practice of polysaccharides.