Bangladesh Journal of Pharmacology Volume: 12; Number 1; Year 2017 Cite this article as: Mohan K, Padmanaban AM, Uthayakumar V, Chandrasekhar R, Muralisankar T, Chithra E. Anti-cancer effect of the polysaccharide extract from the Ganoderma lucidum against HeLa cell lines. Bangladesh J Pharmacol. 2017; 12: 56-57. Anti-cancer effect of the polysaccharide extract from the Ganoderma lucidum against HeLa cell lines Sir, Ganoderma lucidum is an important Chinese medicinal mushroom which containing considerable amount of polysaccharides which has been reported to be effective as immunomodulation, antiviral, anti-oxidation, anti- bacterial, anti-cancer effects, etc., without toxic effects in animals (Zhang et al., 2002). It is known to possess various chemical compounds such as polysaccharides, triterpenoids, flavanoids, coumarins, quinones, carote- noids and amino acids as having antibacterial proper- ties (Roberts, 2004). Polysaccharides are the best known and most potent mushroom-derived substances with antitumor and immunomodulating properties. Some recent studies described polysaccharide extracts of mushrooms, as in vitro inhibitors of various cancer cell lines such has colon, promyelocytic leukemia and gastric carcinoma (Masuda et al., 2009; Lavi et al., 2006; Wong et al., 2007). The present study was found to investigate the anti-cancer effect of the polysaccharide extract from the G. lucidum against HeLa cell lines. Matured G. lucidum fruit bodies were collected from the Ooty Hill region and authenticated by the Mycology Division of the Indian Forest Genetics and Tree Breed- ing Institute, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India. Fruiting bodies of mushrooms were dried at 45–50ºC for 48 hours and powdered. The G. lucidum polysaccharides were isolated according to Chen et al. (2009). Fruiting bodies of mushrooms were dried at 45–50ºC for 48 hours and powdered. The powdered material (200 g) was extracted with petroleum ether in Soxhlet appara- tus for 8–10 hours. The extraction was done in four batches of 500 g each. The precipitate was collected by centrifugation (20 min at 9,000 g) and redissolved in double distilled water, and treated with Sevag’s reagent several times to remove protein and then dialyzed against deionised water for 48 hours at 4ºC. It was then evaporated at low temperature and lyophilized to obtain G. lucidum polysaccharide (900 mg) as a light brown powder. HeLa cell lines were purchased from the National Centre for Cell Science, Pune, India. The anti-cancer effect of the polysaccharide extract of the G. lucidum was investi- gating using the MTT assay (Lau et al, 2004). The OD value was measured at 570 nm. The IC50 value as the concentration of sample which reduced absorbance by 50% relative to the vehicle-treated control. The proliferation of HeLa cell was significantly inhibi- ted by G. lucidum polysa- ccharide. The Figure 1 and Table I shows the changes of the percentage of cell viability treated with G. lucidum polysaccharide ex- tract (12.5, 25, 50, 100, and 200 µg/mL) in HeLa cell. There was 99% cell death at 200 µg/mL concentration was observed. The inhibi- A Journal of the Bangladesh Pharmacological Society (BDPS) Bangladesh J Pharmacol 2017; 12: 56-57 Journal homepage: www.banglajol.info Abstracted/indexed in Academic Search Complete, Agroforestry Abstracts, Asia Journals Online, Bangladesh Journals Online, Biological Abstracts, BIOSIS Previews, CAB Abstracts, Current Abstracts, Directory of Open Access Journals, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Google Scholar, HINARI (WHO), International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, Open J-gate, Science Citation Index Expanded, SCOPUS and Social Sciences Citation Index ISSN: 1991-0088; DOI: 10.3329/bjp.v12i1.30252 Letter to the Editor Figure 1: Cytomorphological alternations of HeLa cells treated with G. lucidum polysaccharide extract. A) Control (without treatment) indicated accumulation of HeLa cells uniformly. B, C, D, E, F) HeLa cells treated with 12.5, 25, 50, 100, 200 µg/mL polysaccharide extract for 48 hours indicate apoptotic features such has cytoplasmic blebbing (white arrows), round shape (orange arrows) and apoptotic body formation (black arrows), respectively. Magnification = x 400 http://www.bioxbio.com/if/html/BANGL-J-PHARMACOL.html tory concentration 50% (IC50) was fixed as 7.35 µg/mL. It shows a series of changes including cell shrinkage, cytoplasmic blebbing, and apoptotic body formation. G. lucidum polysaccharide that showed significant antitumor efficacy in vitro against HepG2, HeLa and A549 cancer cell lines, through both direct cytotoxic effects on tumor cells and growth-promoting effects on spleen cells (Li et al., 2010). From the present findings, it can be concluded that the G. lucidum polysaccharide extract shows toxicity to the HeLa cells. K. Mohan1, A. M. Padmanaban1, V. Uthayakumar1, R. Chandrasekhar1, T. Muralisankar2 and E. Chithra1 1Postgraduate and Research Department of Zoology, Sri Vasavi College, Erode, India; 2Department of Marine Science, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, India. Corresponding author: email: kmohanphd@gmail.com References Chen XP, Chen Y, Li SB, Chen YG, Lan JY, Liu LP. Free radical scavenging of Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides and its effect on antioxidant enzymes and immunity activities in cervical carcinoma rats. Carbohydr Polym. 2009; 77: 389-93. Lau CBS, Ho CY, Kim CF, Leung KN, Fung KP, Tse TF. Cytotoxic activities of Coriolus versicolor (Yunzhi) extract on human leukemia and lymphoma cells by induction of apoptosis. Life Sci. 2004; 75: 797-808. Lavi I, Friesem D, Geresh S, Hadar Y, Schwartz B. An aqueous polysaccharide extract from the edible mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus induces anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic effects on HT-29 colon cancer cells. Cancer Lett. 2006; 244: 61-70. 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World J Gastroenterol. 2002; 8: 728-33. Bangladesh J Pharmacol 2017; 12: 56-57 57 Table I Effect of G. lucidum polysaccharide on HeLa cell lines Extract (µg/mL) % Cell inhibition 12.5 2.5 25 5.0 50 7.4 100 24.1 200 99.4 mailto:kmohanphd@gmail.com Figure 1 Cytomorphological alternations of HeLa cells treated with G lucidum polysaccharide: DatePrinted: This article was downloaded by you on: Mar 03, 2017