A novel chondroitin sulfate E from Dosidicus gigas cartilage and its antitumor metastatic activity

Chondroitin sulfate (CS) chains containing GlcUA?1-3GalNAc(4S,6S) (E unit) have been shown to be involved in various physiological and pathological processes. However, commercial E unit-rich CS (CS-E) is difficult to produce on a large scale due to expensive and limited squid cartilage resources. In this study, a novel CS-E (CSnE) was isolated from the cheap and abundant cartilage of the giant squid Dosidicus gigas. The CS-nE has a surprisingly large molecular mass of 696 kDa and a relatively high E unit proportion (44.5 %). It can interact with various growth factors, including HGF, bFGF, pleiotrophin, and HB-EGF, with high affinity, and exhibits dose-dependent anti-metastatic activity. Furthermore, the E unit-rich decasaccharide selectively prepared from CS-nE has been shown to be the minimal functional domain with the strongest antitumor metastatic activity. Taken together, CS-nE will be a very promising candidate for the development of CS-E-based pharmaceutical products.

Automated summary

A novel CS-E (CSnE) was isolated from the cartilage of the giant squid Dosidicus gigas, with a large molecular mass and relatively high E unit proportion. It interacts with various growth factors and exhibits dose-dependent anti-metastatic activity. The E unit-rich decasaccharide derived from CS-nE has shown to be the minimal functional domain with the strongest antitumor metastatic activity, making CS-nE a promising candidate for the development of CS-E-based pharmaceutical products.