• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.379-382
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• 2013

In order to investigate the anticancer activity of an anti-yeast substance (AYS), a proteoglycan produced by Rhanella aquatilis AY2000, the cytotoxicity of the AYS against cancer cells was determined in vitro. The AYS was not cytotoxic to the human Jurkat T cell or the mouse sarcoma 180 cell, but was cytotoxic to the human colon cancer TH20 cell. The AYS was increasingly cytotoxic against human colon cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner at range from 62.5 to 500 ${\mu}g/ml$. Anticancer activity by combination of the AYS and an anticancer agent was also determined. The anticancer agent combined with the AYS was shown to possess greater synergistic anticancer activity against human colon cancer cells, as compared with the anticancer agent alone.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.312-315
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• 2014

So as to evaluate its use an immune stimulator in humans, the toxicity and action against immune cells by an anti-yeast substance (AYS), a bacterial proteoglycan, were investigated. The AYS did not possess hemolytic activity with human red blood cells (hRBC). Nor did it exhibit cytotoxicity against human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (hPBMC). In addition, the AYS did not induce hPBMC proliferation, but it did agglutinate hPBMCs in vitro. Moreover, hPBMC induced inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6, IL-5, IFN-${\gamma}$ and TNF-${\alpha}$ with the AYS during culture. Compared with alum, the AYS as an adjuvant has an increased antibody production rate against bovine serum albumin (BSA) in mice.