Characterization and lectin microarray of an immunomodulatory heteroglucan from Pleurotus ostreatus mycelia

Glucans isolated from various mushroom and mycelia sources are interestingly being studied nowadays as a potent therapeutic agent. The present work was focused on the isolation, characterization and immunomodulatory study of a novel water soluble glucan from the pure mycelia of Pleurotus ostreatus. The extracted glucan was found to have a high molecular weight of similar to 2.7 x 10(6) Da and mainly comprised of glucose, mannose and fucose in a ratio of 3:2:1 with both p and a linkages. Presence of terminal or interior glucose, mannose and fucose residues was also revealed using a high throughput miniaturized platform of lectin microarray. The heteroglucan folded into a triple helical conformation and exhibited enhanced immune cell activation and anti-tumor potential in tumor bearing mice model. Thus, potential biological functions incorporated in these glucan molecules acts in accord with its structural property and exploration of such structure-function relationship will unveil its diverse mechanism of action. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.