Polysaccharides from Chinese materia medica: Perspective towards cancer management

Cancer has always been a focus of global attention, and the difficulty of treatment and poor prognosis have always plagued humanity. Conventional chemotherapeutics and treatment with synthetic disciplines will cause adverse side effects and drug resistance. Therefore, searching for a safe, valid, and clinically effective drug is necessary. At present, some natural compounds have proved to have the potential to fight cancer. Polysaccharides obtained from Chinese materia medica are good anti-cancer ingredients. Polysaccharides are macromolecular compounds of equal or distinct monosaccharides with an α- or β-glycosidic bonds. The anti-cancer activity has been fully demonstrated in vivo and in vitro. However, Chinese materia medica polysaccharides are only used as adjuvant therapy for cancer-related diseases. Hence, this review mainly discusses the chemical composition, biological activity, absorption in vivo, and clinical application of Chinese materia medica polysaccharides. Also, we discussed the anti-cancer mechanism. We also discussed the current research's limitations on treating cancer with Chinese materia medica polysaccharides and insights into future research.