Sulfated alginate oligosaccharide exerts antitumor activity and autophagy induction by inactivating MEK1/ERK/mTOR signaling in a KSR1-dependent manner in osteosarcoma

Alginate oligosaccharide (AOS) has the function to inhibit tumor progression and the sulfated modification can enhance the antitumor activity. To date, the function and mechanism of sulfated AOS (AOS-SO(4)) in tumors remain largely elusive. We prepared AOS by the enzymatic degradation of alginate, collected AOS-SO(4) by sulfating following the canonical procedure. Using these materials, in vitro assays showed that both AOS and AOS-SO(4) elicited antitumor effects in osteosarcoma cells. Sulfated modification significantly enhanced the antitumor activity. In addition, AOS-SO(4) had obvious effects on cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, and autophagy induction in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, we observed that AOS-SO(4) treatment triggered proapoptotic autophagy by inhibiting MEK1/ERK/mTOR signaling. The ERK activator reversed AOS-SO(4)-induced autophagy. More importantly, we found that KSR1 interacted with MEK1 and functioned as a positive regulator of MEK1 protein in osteosarcoma cells. High KSR1 expression was significantly associated with poor survival in osteosarcoma patients. Together, these results suggest that AOS-SO(4) has a better antitumor effect in osteosarcoma by inhibiting MEK1/ERK/mTOR signaling, which is KSR1-dependent; thus, AOS-SO(4) can be a new potential therapeutic candidate for the treatment of osteosarcoma.