Rosa rugosa polysaccharide induces autophagy-mediated apoptosis in human cervical cancer cells via the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a polysaccharide from Rosa rugosa Thunb. on human cervical cancer cells (HCCCs) and the underlying mechanism. Here, a novel Rosa rugosa polysaccharide, named as RRP, was purified from Rosa rugosa petals. RRP consisted of glucose, galacturonic acid, mannose, rhamnose, galactose, arabinose, xylose, and glucuronic acid (molar ratio: 7.78:7.59:4.23:3.22:3.15:1.65:1.00), with Mw of 327.92 kDa. RRP remarkably inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and cell cycle arrest in HeLa and SiHa cells. Furthermore, RRP induced apoptosis by activating the caspase family of proteins and mediating the reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated mitochondrial pathway. In addition, RRP was found to dose-dependently induce autophagy, which occurred prior to apoptosis. RRP also primarily induced autophagy-mediated apoptosis in HCCCs via the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway. Thus, RRP might serve as a legitimate therapeutic drug candidates against human cervical cancer. •Rosa rugosa polysaccharide (RRP) was purified, which was a kind of pyranose with a molecular weight of 329.72 kDa.•RRP induced mitochondrial apoptosis by activating the caspases family as well as regulated cell cycle in HCCCs.•RRP induced autophagy and promoted the autophagosome accumulation in RRP-induced apoptosis in HCCCs.•RRP induced autophagy-mediated apoptosis in HCCCs via inhibiting the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway.