Abstract
Several types of cancers share cellular and molecular behaviors. Although many chemotherapy drugs have been designed to weaken the defenses of cancer cells, these drugs may also have cytotoxic effects on healthy tissues. Fucoidan, a sulfated fucose-based polysaccharide from brown algae, has gained much attention as an antitumor drug owing to its anticancer effects against multiple cancer types. Among the anticancer mechanisms of fucoidan are cell cycle arrest, apoptosis evocation, and stimulation of cytotoxic natural killer cells and macrophages. Fucoidan also protects against toxicity associated with chemotherapeutic drugs and radiation-induced damage. The synergistic effect of fucoidan with existing anticancer drugs has prompted researchers to explore its therapeutic potential. This review compiles the mechanisms through which fucoidan slows tumor growth, kills cancer cells, and interacts with cancer chemotherapy drugs. The obstacles involved in developing fucoidan as an anticancer agent are also discussed in this review.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | 265 |
| Journal | Marine Drugs |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - May 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Funding: This study was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2019R1C1C 1003334 and NRF-2020R1A6A1A03044512), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81874164), and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2019R1G1A1008566).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Keywords
- Anticancer activity
- Brown algae
- Cytotoxic effects
- Fucoidan
- Tumor growth
