Pingli Li, Xinke Zhang, Yanna Cheng, Juan Li, Yuliang Xiao, Qian Zhang, Aizhen Zong, Chuanqing Zhong, Fengshan Wang

Carbohydrate Polymers 102 (2014) 852–861

ABSTRACT

Different curdlan sulfates were synthesized by modification of curdlan with sulfur trioxide–pyridinecomplex, and the one with the highest sulfur content (9.23 ± 0.16) %, CS3, was used to study theimmunomodulating effect on murine RAW264.7 macrophages and bone marrow derived dendritic cells(BMDCs). The results showed that the treatment of macrophages with CS3 could not only increase thenitric oxide (NO) release and the cytokines TNF-, IL-6 and IL-1β production significantly, but alsoenhance the inducible NOS (iNOS) expression, NF-κBp65 nuclear translocation, Erk1/2 and SAPK/JNKphosphorylation. The combination of CS3 with GM-CSF upregulated immature BMDCs to express majorhistocompatibility complex II (MHCII) and CD11c surface markers, CD40, CD80 and CD86 costimulatorymolecules, as well as the cytokines of IL-12p70 and IL-6. The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) analysisfound that CS3 exhibited binding affinity against dectin-1. These results suggested that curdlan sulfatecan possibly be developed as a new immunotherapy agent and anti-viral vaccine adjuvant.