Polysaccharide, a Potential Anti-Cancer Drug with High Efficacy and Safety

Cancer is a major public health problem worldwide and is the second leading cause of death in the world. In 2016, 1,685,210 new cancer cases and 595,690 cancer deaths are projected to occur in the United States [1]. The data also indicated that an estimated 4292,000 new cancer cases and 2814,000 cancer deaths would occur in China in 2015 [2]. So far, surgery and chemotherapy are still the main therapeutic methods of most solid tumors. However, the application of therapeutic drugs had some limitations in clinical settings, such as adverse effects, hemopoietic suppression, limited efficacy, immunotoxicity and drug resistance [3-6]. So, many researchers have been devoting to develop alternative strategies or novel potent, but low toxic anti-cancer reagents, including natural products, and high efficacy to treat cancers [7].