Carrageenan delays cell cycle progression in human cancer cells in vitro demonstrated by FUCCI imaging

Abstract

BackgroundCarrageenan is a sulfated polysaccharide that exists in red seaweeds recently shown to have anticancer properties. Previous findings show various effects of carrageenan suppressing tumor cell growth. One of the hallmarks of cancer is uncontrolled proliferation, a consequence of loss of normal cell-cycle control, that underlies tumor growth. Recently there is an increasing interest in potential anticancer agents that affect cell cycle in cancer cells. Thus, in this study we investigated the effects of carrageenan on the tumor cell cycle.MethodsUsing human cervical carcinoma cells (HeLa) cells as and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC), the cytotoxic effects of kappa carrageenan (k-CO) and lambda carrageenan (λ-CO) at the concentrations of 250–2500 μg/mL were observed. Cell viability was determined using the MTT assay while cell death rates were determined using staining with calcein-AM/propidium iodide. Cell-cycle profile and progression were demonstrated with HeLa cells expressing FUCCI (fluorescence ubiquitination-based cell-cycle indicator) probes (HeLa-FUCCI).ResultsCarrageenan had no significant effect on HUVEC (normal cells). In contrast both forms of carrageenan were cytotoxic towards HeLa cells (cancer cells). Furthermore, according to cell-cycle analysis with FUCCI cells, the cell cycle of HeLa cells was delayed in specific phases due to different carrageenan treatments.ConclusionConsidering these results, it could be suggested that carrageenan affects the cell-cycle of HeLa cells not only by arresting the cell cycle in specific phases but also by delaying the time needed for the cell to progress through the cell cycle. Additionally, different types of carrageenans have different effects on cell cycle progression. This effect of carrageenan towards cancer cells could possibly be developed into a tumor cell-specific anticancer agent.

In vitro antitumor and immunotropic activity of carrageenans from red algae Chondrus armatus and their low‐molecular weight degradation products

“…Since we did not observe explicit cytotoxic activity of our samples in neither normal or cancer cell lines, we suggest that κ‐, λ‐carrageenan, and their LMW degradation products primarily affected cell metabolic activity, which then leads to cell cycle arrests. Ability of carrageenans and their LMW derivatives to induce cell cycle arrest was observed by other authors as well (Bhattacharyya, Borthakur, et al, ; Prasedya et al, ).…”

Induction of apoptosis by piperine in human cervical adenocarcinoma via ROS mediated mitochondrial pathway and caspase-3 activation

“…Cancer is one of the most common destructive diseases that affect millions of people per year and is the second leading cause of death in humans. Cancer causes approximately 7.6 million deaths every year globally (Prasedya et al, 2016[ 23 ]). There is furthermore estimation that the death rates are likely to increase over 11 million in 2030 worldwide (Berrington and Lall, 2012[ 4 ]).…”

Phenotypic Screening Identifies Synergistically Acting Natural Product Enhancing the Performance of Biomaterial Based Wound Healing

“…The marine sourced sulfated polysaccharides have established anti-oxidative, antimicrobial, anticoagulant, and anticancer activities (Freudenberg et al, 2015; Song et al, 2015; Fernando et al, 2016; Prasedya et al, 2016; Wang et al, 2017). Biomaterial developed here capitalizes on the favorable properties of these individual components to regulate microenvironment thereby acting synergistically to promote healing.…”