The Anticancer Effect of Fucoidan in PC-3 Prostate Cancer Cells

Abstract

Fucoidan, a sulfated polysaccharide, has a variety of biological activities, such as anti-cancer, anti-angiogenic and anti-inflammatory. However, the mechanisms of action of fucoidan as an anti-cancer agent have not been fully elucidated. The present study examined the anti-cancer effect of fucoidan obtained from Undaria pinnatifida in PC-3 cells, human prostate cancer cells. Fucoidan induced the apoptosis of PC-3 cells by activating both intrinsic and extrinsic pathways. The induction of apoptosis was accompanied by the activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase mitogen-activated protein kinase (ERK1/2 MAPK) and the inactivation of p38 MAPK and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt. In addition, fucoidan also induced the up-regulation of p21Cip1/Waf and down-regulation of E2F-1 cell-cycle-related proteins. Furthermore, in the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, fucoidan activated GSK-3β that resulted in the decrease of β-catenin level, followed by the decrease of c-myc and cyclin D1 expressions, target genes of β-catenin in PC-3 cells. These results suggested that fucoidan treatment could induce intrinsic and extrinsic apoptosis pathways via the activation of ERK1/2 MAPK, the inactivation of p38 MAPK and PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, and the down-regulation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in PC-3 prostate cancer cells. These data support that fucoidan might have potential for the treatment of prostate cancer.

Fucoidan Induces Cell Aggregation and Apoptosis in Osteosarcoma MG-63 Cells

“…Leukemia cells showed fucoidan-induced apoptosis through activation of p38 MAPK and modulation of Bcl-2 family proteins (Park et al 2013). Prostate cancer and breast cancer cells were reported to undergo apoptosis and growth inhibition following fucoidan treatment (Boo et al 2013;Zhang et al 2013). The present study demonstrates that fucoidan has apoptotic effects on human osteosarcoma cells when the cells are treated with fucoidan upon seeding before becoming stably attached to the plates.…”

“…Fucoidan is a fucose-rich polysaccharide present in the extracellular matrix of brown algae and is reported to possess anti-cancer activities in many different types of cancer cells, including leukemia, breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung adenocarcinoma, and hepatocellular carcinoma cells (Boo et al 2013;Park et al 2013;Senthilkumar et al 2013;Yang et al 2013;Zhang et al 2013). Hepatocellular carcinoma cells exposed to fucoidan displayed growth inhibition and apoptosis via the reactive oxygen speciesmediated mitochondrial pathway .…”

“…Several biological activities of fucoidan have been reported including, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, anti-coagulant, and anti-angiogenic effects (Zapopozhets et al 1995;Durig et al 1997;Senthilkumar et al 2013;Senthilkumar & Kim 2014). The anti-cancer activities of fucoidan have been demonstrated in many different types of cancers such as breast cancer, adenocarcinoma, and colon cancer by arresting the cell cycle and inducing apoptosis (Boo et al 2013;Park et al 2013;Senthilkumar et al 2013;Yang et al 2013).…”

Silencing Prion Protein in HT29 Human Colorectal Cancer Cells Enhances Anticancer Response to Fucoidan

“…Among them, fucoidan, which is isolated from brown seaweed such as Cladosiphon okamuranus and Fucus evanescens (1,2), is structurally similar to heparin, with a substantial percentage of L-fucose (3,4). Recent studies have shown its various effects on biological activities such as antiinflammatory, anti-coagulant (5), anti-HIV, and anticancer (6)(7)(8)(9) activities. With respect to cancer therapy, fucoidan appears to be highly efficient in treating certain types of cancer, including breast, prostate and lung, as well as leukemia (10)(11)(12).…”

The enhancing effect of fucoidan derived from Undaria pinnatifida on immunoglobulin production by mouse spleen lymphocytes

“…10-1000 kD). It is well known that fucoidan has various biological effects [9][10][11] such as anti-tumor, [12][13][14][15][16][17][18] anti-virus 19,20) , and anti-inflammatory effects. 21) Furthermore, Mekabu-derived fucoidan showed anti-tumor effect in vivo and its mechanism was mediated by IFN-γ activated NK cells.…”