Fucoidan Inhibits the Growth of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Independent of Angiogenesis

Abstract

Some sulphated polysaccharides can bind bFGF but are unable to present bFGF to its high-affinity receptors. Fucoidan, a sulphated polysaccharide purified from brown algae, which has been used as an anticancer drug in traditional Chinese medicine for hundreds of years, exhibits a variety of anticancer effects, including the induction of the apoptosis and autophagy of cancer cells, the inhibition of the growth of cancer cells, the induction of angiogenesis, and the improvement of antitumour immunity. Our research shows that fucoidan dose not inhibit the expressions of VEGF, bFGF, IL-8, and heparanase in HCC cells and/or tumour tissues. Moreover, fucoidan exhibited low affinity for bFGF and could not block the binding of bFGF to heparan sulphated. Although fucoidan had no effect on angiogenesis and apoptosis in vivo, this drug significantly inhibited the tumour growth and the expression of PCNA. These results suggest that fucoidan exhibits an anticancer effect in vivo at least partly through inhibition of the proliferation of HCC cells, although it is unable to suppress the angiogenesis induced by HCC.

Fucoidan affects oral squamous cell carcinoma cell functions in vitro by regulating FLNA‐derived circular RNA

“…reported that fucoidan exhibited suppression of cell viability and proliferation of breast cancer cell lines . Fucoidan has also been reported to inhibit hepatoma tumor growth . Our results are consistent with those studies.…”

Fucoidan‐induced osteogenic differentiation promotes angiogenesis by inducing vascular endothelial growth factor secretion and accelerates bone repair

“…In addition, it was found that VEGF secretion is increased during osteoblast differentiation, thus enhancing angiogenesis (Deckers et al, ). Although several studies have reported that treatment with fucoidan stimulates VEGF secretion, a certain study reported that fucoidan reduced expression and secretion of VEGF in retinal pigment epithelium cells (Dithmer et al, ), while Zhu, Cao, Zhang, Man, and Wu () reported that fucoidan did not affect the expression of VEGF in HCC cells. In contrast, the present study demonstrated that VEGF mRNA and protein levels were significantly increased during fucoidan‐induced osteoblast differentiation in MSCs.…”

Coassembled nanostructured bioscaffold reduces the expression of proinflammatory cytokines to induce apoptosis in epithelial cancer cells

“…A family of sulfonated polysaccharides known as fucoidans have gathered increasing attention for their inherent biocompatibility and anti-inflammatory properties both in vitro and in vivo 11 . Importantly, several studies have also indicated the antimitogenic effects of fucoidans as they block cell cycle progression 12 , induce apoptosis and reduce tumorigenicity in several cancer cell lines 13 . However, the use of these biopolymers as a therapeutic is constrained by the high solubility of the polysaccharide chains, limiting their sustained functionality unless encapsulated in an external carrier 14 or presented on a two-M A N U S C R I P T …”