IMMUNOMODULATORY AND ANTITUMOR POLYSACCHARIDES FROM MEDICINAL-PLANTS

Many Chinese medicinal plants have immunomodulatory and anti-tumour ac tivities. Most of the anti-tumour activities of these Chinese herbs ar e probably due to their immunostimulating polysaccharide components. A general scheme for the isolation and purification of the bioactive po lysaccharides from naturally occurring medicinal plants is described. Hot-water extraction followed by various chromatographic methods are u sually used to purify the bioactive polysaccharides. The different fra ctions separated from Chinese medicinal plants show a range of immunom odulatory and anti-tumour activities. The analytical methods used for monosaccharide sequence determination and structural elucidation of th e bioactive polysaccharides are described, as are the tests used to ev aluate their immunopharmacological activities, both in vitro and in vi vo. The purification, characterization and structural elucidation of i mmunomodulatory polysaccharides from medicinal plants may have importa nt implications in the immunotherapy of cancer and in the treatment of various other diseases.