Inhibitory effect of modified citrus pectin on liver metastases in a mouse colon cancer model

Table 1 Liver metastases

Groups	n	Numbers of liver metastases				χ2	P
		0 (0)	I (1-5)	II (6-10)	III (> 10)
Positive control group	15	0	2	7	6
1.0% MCP group	15	3	6	2	4	3.996	> 0.05
2.5% MCP group	15	4	7	1	3	7.069	> 0.05
5.0% MCP group	15	6	4	2	3	8.052	< 0.051

¹The number of liver metastases in high MCP concentration (5.0%) group was significantly less than that in positive control group (P = 0.008).

Table 2 Volume of primary spleen tumor (cm³)

Groups	n	M	mean ± SD	χ2	P
Positive control group	15	1.51	1.71 ± 1.29
1.0% MCP group	15	0.93	1.28 ± 0.68	2.955	> 0.05
2.5% MCP group	15	0.77	0.90 ± 0.55	8.083	< 0.051
5.0% MCP group	15	0.70	0.76 ± 0.30	7.989	< 0.051

¹The volume of primary spleen tumor in middle and high MCP conce-ntration groups was significantly smaller than that in positive control group (P = 0.003).

Table 3 Serum concentration of galectin-3 (μg/mL)

Groups	n	mean ± SD	H	P
Negative control group	15	14.63 ± 10.08	9.37	< 0.011
Positive control group	15	91.01 ± 12.94	4.34
1.0% MCP group	15	82.75 ± 20.33
2.5% MCP group	15	79.01 ± 17.64
5.0% MCP group	15	85.94 ± 15.52

¹The serum concentration of galectin-3 in negatives control group was significantly lower than that in positive control group (P < 0.01).

Table 4 Expression of galectin-3 in liver metastasis

Groups	n	Expression of galectin-3				H	P
		(-)	(+)	(++)	(+++)
Positive control group	15	5	6	2	2	0.52	P = 0.170
1.0% MCP group	12	4	3	2	3	0.52	P = 0.170
2.5% MCP group	11	2	6	2	1	0.52	P = 0.170
5.0% MCP group	9	3	4	1	1	0.52	P = 0.170