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Updated: Aug 15, 2025

Evaluating Cell Death Using Cell-Free Supernatant of Probiotics in Three-Dimensional Spheroid Cultures of Colorectal Cancer Cells
Published on: June 13, 2020
Anti-colon cancer effects of Spirulina polysaccharide and its mechanism based on 3D models
Yingfang Lu1, Zexin Chen2, Qianmin Lin1
1Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Food Quality and Safety, College of Food Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China.
Abstract:
Spirulina polysaccharides (PSP) possess significant biological properties. However, it is still a lack of investigation on the anti-colorectal cancer effect and mechanism. In this study, PSP showed significant effects on LoVo cell spheroids with an IC50 value of 0.1943 mg/mL. The analysis of transcriptomics and metabolomics indicated the impact of PSP on LoVo spheroid cells through involvement in the two pathways of "glycine, serine, and threonine metabolism" and "ABC transporters". And, the q-PCR data further verified the pointed mechanism of PSP on colon cancer (CC) by regulating the expression levels of relevant genes in the synthesis pathways of serine and glycine in tumor cells. Furthermore, the anti-colon cancer effects of PSP were verified via other human colon cancer cell lines HCT116 and HT29 spheroids (IC50 = 0.0646 mg/mL and 0.2213 mg/mL, respectively), and three patient-derived organoids (PDOs) with IC50 values ranging from 3.807 to 7.788 mg/mL. In addition, this study found that a mild concentration of PSP cannot enhance the anti-tumor effect of 5-Fu. And a significant inhibition was found of PSP in 5-Fu resistance organoids. These results illustrated that PSP could be a treatment or supplement for 5-Fu resistant colorectal cancer (CRC).

