Comparative Analyses of Fucoidans from South African Brown Seaweeds That Inhibit Adhesion, Migration, and Long-Term Survival of Colorectal Cancer Cells

Abstract

Human colorectal cancer (CRC) is a recurrent, deadly malignant tumour with a high incidence. The incidence of CRC is of increasing alarm in highly developed countries, as well as in middle to low-income countries, posing a significant global health challenge. Therefore, novel management and prevention strategies are vital in reducing the morbidity and mortality of CRC. Fucoidans from South African seaweeds were hot water extracted and structurally characterised using FTIR, NMR and TGA. The fucoidans were chemically characterised to analyse their composition. In addition, the anti-cancer properties of the fucoidans on human HCT116 colorectal cells were investigated. The effect of fucoidans on HCT116 cell viability was explored using the resazurin assay. Thereafter, the anti-colony formation potential of fucoidans was explored. The potency of fucoidans on the 2D and 3D migration of HCT116 cells was investigated by wound healing assay and spheroid migration assays, respectively. Lastly, the anti-cell adhesion potential of fucoidans on HCT116 cells was also investigated. Our study found that Ecklonia sp. Fucoidans had a higher carbohydrate content and lower sulphate content than Sargassum elegans and commercial Fucus vesiculosus fucoidans. The fucoidans prevented 2D and 3D migration of HCT116 colorectal cancer cells to 80% at a fucoidan concentration of 100 µg/mL. This concentration of fucoidans also significantly inhibited HCT116 cell adhesion by 40%. Moreover, some fucoidan extracts hindered long-term colony formation by HCT116 cancer cells. In summary, the characterised fucoidan extracts demonstrated promising anti-cancer activities in vitro, and this warrants their further analyses in pre-clinical and clinical studies.

Fucoidan and dendrimer-based nanocapsule exhibiting effectiveness in methotrexate controlled delivery towards rheumatoid arthritis treatment

“…In the FTIR spectrum of PAMAM dendrimer G3.0 (figure 1(b)), the absorption bands at 3500-3300, 1680-1630, and 1570-1515 cm −1 correspond to the N-H stretching of the secondary amide (-NH-), the secondary amide group, and the amide II, respectively, consistent with a previous report [35]. In addition, the absorption bands at 1250-1150, 1150-1050, and 900-800 cm −1 in the spectrum of fucoidan (figure 1(a)) related to S=O bond, glycosidic C-O, and the link between sulfate groups and carbonyl side chains, respectively, which are similar to another report [36]. Compared to the FTIR spectrum of dendrimer PAMAM G3.0-Fu (figure 1(c)), the characteristic peaks of PAMAM dendrimer G3.0 and fucoidan are also observed, confirming the appearances of PAMAM G.30 and fucoidan in PAMAM G3.0-Fu.…”

The Ocean’s Pharmacy: Health Discoveries in Marine Algae

“…Interestingly, anti-cancer activity featured the highest amount of microalgal studies (n = 7) compared to all the other bioactivities described in this review, which confirms it being a research hotspot [199]. In general, the tested macroalgal and microalgal extracts/compounds were successful in targeting one or multiple hallmarks of cancer-by displaying anti-proliferative effects (mainly through the induction of apoptosis) [72,[200][201][202][203][204][205][206][207][208][209][210][211][212][213][214], decreasing the inflammatory state [200,[211][212][213], migration capacity [215], angiogenesis potential [213], and adhesion properties [213]. When modulating oxidative stress, mechanisms to decrease cancerous cell survival differed between extracts or isolated compounds.…”