Isolation of an N-acetyl-d-glucosamine specific lectin from the rhizomes of Arundo donax with antiproliferative activity

Present report is the first case wherein a lectin has been isolated from the rhizomes of a Gramineae member showing specificity towards GlcNAc similar to that of the cereal lectins from embryonal axes, but different from those isolated from roots and leaves. The lectin with exploitable growth inhibition potential towards human cancer cell lines and mitogenic potential towards human peripheral blood mononuclear cells along with a sugar specificity, which is reported to be involved in the diverse biological activities, has provided an interesting line of investigations with respect to lectin dependent processes.