title: Anticancer polysaccharides from natural resources: a review of recent research.
abstract: Taking into account the rising trend of the incidence of cancers of various organs, effective therapies are urgently needed to control human malignancies. However, almost all of the chemotherapy drugs currently on the market cause serious side effects. Fortunately, several previous studies have shown that some non-toxic biological macromolecules, including polysaccharides and polysaccharide-protein complexes, possess anti-cancer activities or can increase the efficacy of conventional chemotherapy drugs. Based on these encouraging observations, a great deal of effort has been focused on discovering anti-cancer polysaccharides and complexes for the development of effective therapeutics for various human cancers. This review focuses on the advancements in the anti-cancer efficacy of various natural polysaccharides and polysaccharide complexes in the past 5 years. Most polysaccharides were tested using model systems, while several involved clinical trials.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biochemical and Biotechnological Drugs, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong, PR China.
authors.forename: Aizhen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zong
authors.forename: Hongzhi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Fengshan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012196:Review Literature as Topic
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D011134:Polysaccharides