Are Bioactive Molecules from Seaweeds a Novel and Challenging Option for the Prevention of HPV Infection and Cervical Cancer Therapy?—A Review

Abstract

Cervical cancer represents one of the leading causes of cancer-related death in women all over the world. The infection with human papilloma virus (HPV) is one of the major risk factors for the development of premalignant lesions, which will progress to cervical cancer. Seaweeds are marine organisms with increased contents of bioactive compounds, which are described as potential anti-HPV and anti-cervical cancer agents. Our study aims to bring together all the results of the previous studies, conducted in order to highlight the potency of bioactive molecules from seaweeds, as anti-HPV and anti-cervical agents. This paper is a review of the English literature published between January 2010 and August 2020. We performed a systematic study in the Google Academic and PubMed databases using the key words “HPV infection”, “anticancer”, “seaweeds”, “cervical cancer” and “carcinogenesis process”, aiming to evaluate the effects of different bioactive molecules from marine algae on cervical cancer cell lines and on HPV-infected cells. Only original studies were considered for our research. None of the papers was excluded due to language usage or affiliation. Recent discoveries pointed out that sulfated polysaccharides, such as dextran sulfate heparan or cellulose sulfate, blocked the ability of HPV to infect cells, and inhibited the carcinogenesis process. Carrageenans inhibited the virions of HPV from binding the cellular wall. Fucoidan induced the growth inhibition of HeLa cervical cells in vitro. Heterofucans exhibited antiproliferative effects on cancer cell lines. Terpenoids from brown algae are also promising agents with anti-cervical cancer activity. Considering all the results of the previous studies, we observed that great amounts of bioactive molecules from seaweeds could treat both unapparent HPV infection and clinical visible disease. Furthermore, these molecules were very efficient in the treatment of invasive cervical carcinomas. In these conditions, we consider seaweeds extracts as a novel and challenging therapeutic strategy, and we hope that our study paves the way for further clinical trials in the field.

Bioactive Carbohydrate Polymers—Between Myth and Reality

“…The great potential of polysaccharides from different sources as antiviral agents is undeniable, especially when the origin is seaweeds. Alginate, fucoidan, and laminarin, typically obtained from brown algae [ 95 , 256 , 257 , 258 , 259 , 262 , 271 , 275 , 287 ], carrageenan and galactans from red algae [ 257 , 258 , 261 , 262 , 263 , 264 , 265 ], and ulvan from green algae [ 262 , 266 ], often present antiviral activity against several viruses ( Table 3 ). Indeed, this recognized biological activity immediately aroused the interest of the scientific community to search for solutions against the new SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for causing COVID-19 [ 264 , 271 , 288 ].…”

“…Alginate, fucoidan, and laminarin, typically obtained from brown algae [ 95 , 256 , 257 , 258 , 259 , 262 , 271 , 275 , 287 ], carrageenan and galactans from red algae [ 257 , 258 , 261 , 262 , 263 , 264 , 265 ], and ulvan from green algae [ 262 , 266 ], often present antiviral activity against several viruses ( Table 3 ). Indeed, this recognized biological activity immediately aroused the interest of the scientific community to search for solutions against the new SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for causing COVID-19 [ 264 , 271 , 288 ]. Several polysaccharides have been explored with this propose, as is the case for carrageenan and fucoidan, from algae and heparin, with animal origin, that have already shown promising results against this virus [ 257 , 262 , 271 , 281 ].…”

Antioxidant, Scavenging, Reducing, and Anti-Proliferative Activities of Selected Tropical Brown Seaweeds Confirm the Nutraceutical Potential of Spatoglossum asperum

“…These secondary metabolites are produced from the metabolism of primary metabolites, and are not directly involved in the reproduction, key-metabolism or survival of seaweeds. These secondary metabolites are responsible for a variety of bioactivities of seaweeds, such as antioxidant, antiviral, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anticoagulant and many other activities [5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. Polyphenolic compounds, including flavonoids, contain powerful antioxidant activity through various mechanisms, such as scavenging oxygen radicals, inhibiting oxidative enzymes or promoting anti-oxidases [12,13].…”

“…Seaweeds are known to possess a variety of metabolic activities, and the study of their metabolomics might unfold different aspects of seaweeds' properties, and also identify their nutraceutical application [28]. Brown seaweeds have been reported to have nutraceutical and biomedical potential in cancer therapy [8,10], as they show anti-proliferative activities [5]. The present study was undertaken with the objective to determine the different biological activities of the brown seaweeds.…”

Antiproliferative and Apoptotic Activity of Sulfated Polysaccharide Isolated From Hypnea Valentiae Red Seaweed in Human Skin Malignant Melanoma Cells

“…Cancer is one of the leading causes for death throughout the world and the current treatment with chemotherapeutic drugs has a major disadvantage which causes various toxic side effects [1,7,10]. Malignant melanoma is aggressive with poor survival rate and is known to have the highest mutational load of all cancers.…”