Enzymatic degraded polysaccharides from Enteromorpha prolifera inhibit the growth of THP-1 cells and induce apoptosis via the mitochondrial pathway.

Polysaccharides from Enteromorpha prolifera (EP) is a kind of sulfated polysaccharides with complex structure. Several reports have showed that EP play roles in antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, while, whose function in anti-leukemia is still poorly understood. In this work, EPH were the hydrolysis products of EP by ulvan lyase EPL15085, which displayed lower molecular weight and enhanced sulfate groups than EP. Importantly, EPH exhibited effective inhibitory effect on the human leukemia monocyte cell line, THP-1 cells, however, the EP treated group showed no significant change. Results of JC-1 staining and ROS assay showed mitochondrial dysfunction after EPH treatment, and the increased rate of Bax/Bcl ultimately activated Caspase family proteins to induce apoptosis, indicating the mitochondrial pathway was involved. This study demonstrates the enzymatic products of EP showed enhanced effect on anti-leukemia, which would provide insights for approaches to uncover novel physiological functions of marine polysaccharides and potential therapy for acute myeloid leukemia patients.