Whole β-glucan particle attenuates AOM/DSS-induced colorectal tumorigenesis in mice via inhibition of intestinal inflammation

Yewen Xie; Fang Shao; Xuehan Duan; Jun Ding; Yongling Ning; Xiao Sun; Lei Xia; Jie Pan; Jie Chen; Shuyan He; Dong Shen; Chunjian Qi

doi:10.3389/fphar.2023.1017475

Whole β-glucan particle attenuates AOM/DSS-induced colorectal tumorigenesis in mice via inhibition of intestinal inflammation

Front Pharmacol. 2023 Jan 12:14:1017475. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2023.1017475. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yewen Xie^{1

2}, Fang Shao^{1

2}, Xuehan Duan¹, Jun Ding^{1

2}, Yongling Ning^{1

2}, Xiao Sun¹, Lei Xia¹, Jie Pan¹, Jie Chen¹, Shuyan He³, Dong Shen³, Chunjian Qi^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Medical Research Center, The Affiliated Changzhou Second People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Changzhou, China.
² Oncology Institute, The Affiliated Changzhou Second People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Changzhou, China.
³ Department of Oncology, The Affiliated Jiangyin Hospital of Nantong University, Jiangyin, Jiangsu, China.

Abstract

Yeast β-glucan is a polysaccharide purified from the Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell wall, and its multiple biological activities are essential for immune regulation. However, the effect of β-glucan on the intestinal immune response during colitis-associated colorectal cancer (CAC) is unclear. Here, we explore the possible role of β-glucan in the development of CAC. Wild type (WT) mice with CAC induced by azoxmethane (AOM) and dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) had fewer tumors than untreated mice after oral β-glucan because of increased antitumor dendritic cells (DCs) in the tumor microenvironment, resulting in more CD8⁺ T cells and the production of related cytokines. β-glucan also increased resistance to DSS-induced chronic colitis by reshaping the inflammatory microenvironment. These data suggest that β-glucan improves experimental intestinal inflammation and delays the development of CAC. Therefore, β-glucan is feasible for treating chronic colitis and CAC in clinical practice.

Keywords: chronic colitis; colitis-associated colorectal cancer; dendritic cell; intestinal inflammation; yeast β-glucan.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32270954 to CQ); the Project of Jiangsu S&T Plan (BK20200178 to JD); the Project of Changzhou S&T Plan (CJ20200100 to JD, CE20215054 to YN, and CE20225050 to CQ). and Jiangsu Provincial Health Commission (H2019103 to DS and ZD2022035 to CQ).