Chitooligosaccharides induce apoptosis in human myeloid leukemia HL-60 cells.

In this study we propose a novel anticancer agent using hetero-chitooligosaccharide (hetero-COS). To examine the possibility of the hetero-COS as a anticancer agent, we prepared nine kinds of hetero-COS with relatively higher molecular weights (90, 75 and 50-COS I, 5-10kDa), medium molecular weights (90, 75 and 50-COS II, 1-5kDa), and lower molecular weights (90, 75 and 50-III, below 1kDa), and their anticancer properties were investigated on HL-60 cells using flow cytometry and morphological analysis. The results obtained indicate that 90-COS III, which is relatively higher degree of deacetylation and lower molecular weights, showed the highest anticancer activity, and the data showed the anticancer property of the hetero-COSs depended on their degree of deacetylation values and molecular weight.