Cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell proliferation and the spread of cells to other tissues and remains one of the worldwide problems waiting to be solved. There are various treatment strategies for cancer, such as chemotherapy, surgery, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy, although it varies according to its type and stage. Many chemotherapeutic agents have limited clinical use due to lack of efficacy, off-target toxicity, metabolic instability, or poor pharmacokinetics. One possible solution to this high rate of clinical failure is to design drug delivery systems that deliver drugs in a controlled and specific manner and are not toxic to normal cells. Marine systems contain biodiversity, including components and materials that can be used in biomedical applications and therapy. Biomaterials such as chitin, chitosan, alginate, carrageenan, fucoidan, hyaluronan, agarose, and ulvan obtained from marine organisms have found use in DDSs today. These polysaccharides are biocompatible, non-toxic, biodegradable, and cost-effective, making them ideal raw materials for increasingly complex DDSs with a potentially regulated release. In this review, the contributions of polysaccharides from the marine environment to the development of anticancer drugs in DDSs will be discussed.

Aim: Acquired docetaxel (DOC) resistance of prostate cancer (PCa) is still a clinical problem. In addition to failure in chemotherapy treatment, it causes tumor recurrence. Therefore, novel and more effective compounds are needed in DOC-resistant PCa treatment. This study aimed to investigate the possible cytotoxic and cell death-inducing activities of thymoquinone (TQ), one of the main active components of Nigella sativa L., on DOC-resistant prostate cancer cells. Material and Methods: DOC-resistant PC3 cells (DOC-R/PC3) were developed by the continuous culture with increment concentrations of DOC (1-10 nM) until they improved their growth and division abilities. The cell viability was determined by MTT assay. The Muse TM Annexin V & Dead Cell kit was performed to detect apoptotic cell death. Autophagic vacuoles were observed by staining autophagic vacuoles. The levels of LC3I, LC3II and Beclin-1 proteins were investigated via western blot analysis. Results: TQ inhibited the viability of DOC-R/PC3 cells in a dose-and time-dependent manner (p=0.014). The IC50 value of TQ for DOC-R/PC3 cells was calculated as 60 µM at 72 h. Treatment of TQ did not induce apoptotic cell death in DOC-resistant prostate cancer cells but induced the formation of autophagic vacuoles. Moreover, Beclin-1 and LC3-II protein levels were increased in TQ-treated DOC-R/PC3 cells, however, LC3-I levels were decreased in DOC-R/PC3 cells. Conclusion: All these results show that TQ may become a new therapeutic target for DOCresistant prostate cancer in the future.

Vaccination is one of the important approaches in the prevention and control of diseases. Although the capacity to present antigens other than the disease-specific antigen in the traditional vaccine composition provides a potential benefit by increasing its protective efficacy, many components that are not needed for the related disease are also transferred. These components can reduce vaccine activity by lowering immunity against protective antigens. The reasons such as the low effectiveness of traditional vaccines and the high cost of production and time-consuming reasons show that it is necessary to develop a new vaccine method for our world, which is struggling with epidemics almost every year. Among nucleic acids, mRNA has many advantages, such as genomic integration, induction of anti-DNA autoantibodies, and immune tolerance induced by long-term antigen expression. mRNA vaccines have become a therapeutic target for reasons such as efficacy, safety, fast and non-expensive production. The fact that mRNA triggers both humoral and cellular immunity and goes only to the cytoplasm, not to the nucleus, makes it highly efficient. The mRNA must cross the lipid bilayer barrier and entry to the cytoplasm where it is translated into protein. There are two main ways of mRNA vaccine delivery for this: ex vivo loading of mRNA into dendritic cells and direct injection of mRNA with or without a carrier. Studies continue to understand which delivery system is therapeutically more efficient. Preclinical and clinical trials showed that mRNA vaccines trigger a long-lasting and safe immune response.

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Trabectedin is a chemotherapy agent originating from a tunicate, Ecteinascidia turbinata. In this study, DNA‐independent action mechanisms of trabectedin are investigated in prostate cancer (PCa) cells. Cell viability was assessed via XTT assay. Apoptosis was evaluated via flow cytometry. Tetramethylrodamine ethyl ester (TMRE) dye was utilized to determine mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP). Cell cycle distribution was investigated via flow cytometric analysis. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) were monitored using fluorescence CM‐H2DCFDA dye. Changes in CHOP, p‐eIF2α, GRP78 and p‐PERK which are endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress‐involved proteins were investigated via western blot. Trabectedin induced cytotoxicity and cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase. Trabectedin decreased MMP via ROS generation in PCa cells. ER stress‐related proteins CHOP, p‐eIF2α, GRP78 and p‐PERK were also elevated by trabectedin treatment indicating the induction of ER stress‐induced apoptosis. The results of this study show that trabectedin may be an effective chemotherapeutic for PCa.