Antitumor and immunomodulatory activities of a polysaccharide from Artemisia argyi.

A water-soluble polysaccharide (FAAP-02), composed of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine, glucose, mannose, galactose, rhamnose, arabinose, xylose and ribose, with an average molecular weight of 5169 Da, was isolated from Artemisia argyi. The antitumor and immunomodulatory activities of FAAP-02 were evaluated in Sarcoma 180 (S180) tumor-bearing mice by intraperitoneal administration. As a result, FAAP-02 significantly inhibited the growth of the S180 transplanted tumors and prolonged the survival time of the tumor-bearing mice. Moreover, FAAP-02 could obviously increase the thymus and spleen indices, the levels of serum Interleukin 2 (IL-2), Interleukin 6 (IL-6), Interleukin 12 (IL-12) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and the expression of CD4+ and CD8+ splenic T lymphocytes which were suppressed by the transplanted tumor or/and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in the mice. These results indicated that the antitumor activity of FAAP-02 might be associated with its immunostimulatory effects.