Fucoidan is a kind of the polysaccharide, which comes from brown algae and comprises of sulfated fucose residues. It has shown a large range of biological activities in basic researches, including many elements like anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-viral, anti-oxidation, anticoagulant, antithrombotic, anti-angiogenic and anti-Helicobacter pylori, etc. Cancer is a multifactorial disease of multiple causes. Most of the current chemotherapy drugs for cancer therapy are projected to eliminate the ordinary deregulation mechanisms in cancer cells. Plenty of wholesome tissues, however, are also influenced by these chemical cytotoxic effects. Existing researches have demonstrated that fucoidan can directly exert the anti-cancer actions through cell cycle arrest, induction of apoptosis, etc., and can also indirectly kill cancer cells by activating natural killer cells, macrophages, etc. Fucoidan is used as a new anti-tumor drug or as an adjuvant in combination with an anti-tumor drug because of its high biological activity, wide source, low resistance to drug resistance and low side effects. This paper reviews the mechanism by which fucoidan can eliminate tumor cells, delay tumor growth and synergize with anticancer chemotherapy drugs in vitro, in vivo and in clinical trials.

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Background: Rupture of intracranial aneurysms (IA) is associated with high rates of mortality around the world. Use of intestinal probiotics can regulate the pathophysiology of aneurysms, but the details of the mechanism involved have been unclear. Material/Methods: The GEO2R analysis website was used to detect the DEGs between IAs, AAAs, samples after supplementation with probiotics, and normal samples. The online tool DAVID provides functional classification and annotation analyses of associated genes, including GO and KEGG pathway. PPI of these DEGs was analyzed based on the STRING database, followed by analysis using Cytoscape software. Results: We found 170 intersecting DEGs (contained in GSE75240 and more than 2 of the 4 aneurysms datasets), 5 intersecting DEGs (contained in all datasets) and 1 intersecting DEG (contained in GSE75240 and all IAs datasets). GO analysis results suggested that the DEGs primarily participate in signal transduction, cell adhesion, immune response, response to drug, extracellular matrix organization, cell-cell signaling, and inflammatory response in the BP terms, and the KEGG pathways are mainly enriched in focal adhesion, cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, ECM-receptor interaction, amoebiasis, chemokine signaling pathway, proteoglycans, and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway in cancer pathways. Through PPI network analysis, we confirmed 2 candidates for further study: CAV1 and MYH11. These downregulated DEGs are associated with the formation of aneurysms, and the change of these DEGs is the opposite in probiotics-treated animals. Conclusions: Our study suggests that MYH11 and CAV1 are potential target genes for prevention of aneurysms. Further experiments are needed to verify these findings.

Curcumin is extracted from the rhizomes of Curcuma longa L. It is now widely used in food processing, cosmetics, dyes, etc. Current researching indicates that curcumin has high medical value, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-tumor, anti-apoptotic, anti-fibrosis, immune regulation and other effects, and can be used to treat a variety of diseases. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a nonspecific inflammatory disease of the intestine including Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). The drug treatment effect is often limited and accompanied by side effects. A large number of basic and clinical studies have shown that curcumin has the effect of treating IBD and also can maintain the remission of IBD. In this review, the research of curcumin on IBD in recent years is summarized in order to provide reference for further research and application of curcumin.