Structure and activities of a novel heteroxylan from Cassia obtusifolia seeds and its sulfated derivative

•COB1B1S2 was extracted from Cassia obtusifolia seeds.•COB1B1S2 is a novel glucuronoxylan without methylation at O-4 of GlcA.•COB1B1S2-sul inhibited tube formation of HMEC-1 cells.•COB1B1S2-sul inhibited the proliferation of Bel7402 human hepatoma cells. COB1B1S2 was isolated from an alkaline extract of Cassia obtusifolia seeds, and purified by anion-exchange and gel permeation chromatography. It contains arabinose, xylose, and glucuronic acid, in the molar ratio of 5:81:14, with an apparent molecular weight estimated to be 70.4kDa. Elucidated by using chemical and spectroscopic methods, COB1B1S2 was shown to have a backbone consisting of 1,4-linked β-d-Xylp, with one single-unit terminal α-d-GlcpA or α-l-Araf substituted at O-2 for nearly every five 1,4-linked Xylp. COB1B1S2 is structurally different from typical glucuronoxylans by its absence of methylation at O-4 of GlcA. The native COB1B1S2 showed no significant inhibition on the tube formation of human microvascular endothelial cells (HMEC) and on the growth of liver and colon cancer cells. On the contrary, COB1B1S2-Sul, prepared as the sulfated derivative of COB1B1S2, exhibited a significant inhibition on tube formation of HMEC in a dose-dependent manner, and on the growth of Bel7402 liver cancer cells. These results indicated that the introduction of sulfate groups significantly enhanced the biological activity of glucuronoxylan.