Abstract
Previous reports indicate that N-acetyl-d-glucosamine oligomers (chitin oligosaccharide; NACOS) and d-glucosamine oligomers (chitosan oligosaccharide; COS) have various biological activities, especially against cancer and inflammation. In this review, we have summarized the findings of previous investigations that have focused on anticancer or anti-inflammatory properties of NACOS and COS. Moreover, we have introduced recent evaluation of NACOS and COS as functional foods against cancer and inflammatory disease.
Highlights
Chitin (β-(1-4)-poly-N-acetyl-D-glucosamine) is widely distributed in nature and is the second most abundant polysaccharide after cellulose 1 [1]
The effects were evaluated by measuring the activities of enzymes quinine reductase (QR), ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) as well as glutathione (GSH) levels and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression in human colorectal adenocarcinoma cell line, HT-29, treated with COS
These results indicate that COS exerts its chemopreventive effect against colon cancer by increasing QR and GST activities and GSH levels and by inhibiting ODC activity and COX-2 expression in vitro
Summary
Chitin (β-(1-4)-poly-N-acetyl-D-glucosamine) is widely distributed in nature and is the second most abundant polysaccharide after cellulose 1 [1]. As chitin is not readily dissolved in common solvents, it is often converted to its more deacetylated derivative, chitosan [3,4,5]. Even though chitin and chitosan are known to have important functional activities, their poor solubility. The hydrolyzed products of chitosan—N-acetyl-D-glucosamine oligomers (chitin oligosaccharide; NACOS) and D-glucosamine oligomers (chitosan oligosaccharide; COS) are readily soluble in water because of their shorter chain lengths [7]. NACOS and COS are generated by depolymerization of chitin or chitosan by using acid hydrolysis, hydrolysis by physical methods, and enzymatic degradation [8]. Many reports have indicated that NACOS and COS possess numerous biological activities. Most of these studies were performed either in vitro or via intravenous (i.v.) or intraperitoneal (i.p.) administration. We focus on these properties of NACOS and COS by first summarizing the findings of previous studies and discussing the potency of NACOS and COS as functional foods against cancer and inflammation
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