Inhibitory effect of chitosan oligosaccharides on the growth of tumor cells

Chitin, a poly $\beta$-(1longrightarrow14)-N-acetyl-D-glucosamine, is best known as a cell wall component of fungi and as a skeletal materials of invertebrates. Chitosan is derived from chitin by deacetylation in the presence of alkali. Chitosan has been developed as new physiological materials since it possesses antibacterial activity, hypocholesterolemic activity and antihypertensive action. However, the actions of chitosan in vivo still remain ambiguous as the physiological functional properties because most animal intestines, especially the human gastrointestinal tract, do not possess enzyme such as chitosanase which directly degrade the $\beta$-glucosidic linkage in chitosan, and consequently the unbroken polymers may be poorly absorbed into the human intestine. Therefore, recent studies as chitosan have attracted interest for chitosan oligosaccharides, because the oligosaccharides process not only water-soluble property but also versatile functional properties such as antitumor activity, immune-enhancing effects, enhancement of protective effects against infection with some pathogens in mice and antimicrobial activity (Kingsnorth et al., 1983, Mori et al., 1997). (omitted)