Cancer Science & Therapy

Apoptosis of Human Breast Cancer Cells (MCF-7) Induced by Polysacccharides Produced by Bacteria

Abstract

R Vidhyalakshmi and C Vallinachiyar

Two different polysaccharides produced by Bacillus species and Pseudomonas species were investigated for
their anticancer activities against Human Breast cancer cell lines and colon cancer cell lines. Exopolysaccharide from Bacillus was purely polysaccharide where as Pseudomonas formed Polysaccharide-Peptide complex. Bacillus polysaccharide were highly active at its low concentration of 7.8 μg/ml by inducing Bax, a death promoting protein,Caspase-3 which induces the caspase cascade of apoptosis and PARP. The Polysaccharides of Bacillus species was active with -P53, Bax, lesser extent to Bcl-xl, Caspase, PARP and β-Actin, where as interestingly the inhibitory effect of EPS from Pseudomonas increased after protease digestion suggesting that the inhibitory effect is due to carbohydrate rather than protein. The result of DNA fragmentation was confirmed by DNA ladder assay, we conclude that exopolysaccharide from bacteria has high potential at its low concentration, as a novel therapeutic agent for the treatment of Breast cancer cells without any cytotoxicity against normal cells.