Fucoidan reduces the toxicities of chemotherapy for patients with unresectable advanced or recurrent colorectal cancer

Abstract

Abstract. Combination chemotherapy with oxaliplatin plus 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin (FOLFOX) or irinotecan plus 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin (FOLFIRI) has become a standard regimen for advanced or recurrent colorectal cancer. Numerous studies have reported that long-term use of FOLFOX or FOLFIRI leads to better survival for these patients. Thus, control of the toxicity of these drugs may be crucial to prolonging survival. Fucoidan is one of the major sulfated polysaccharides of brown seaweeds and exhibits a wide range of biological activities. In the present study, we analyzed the effect of fucoidan on suppressing the toxicity of anti-cancer drugs. A total of 20 patients with unresectable advanced or recurrent colorectal cancer scheduled to undergo treatment with FOLFOX or FOLFIRI were randomly allocated into a fucoidan treatment group (n=10) and a control group without fucoidan treatment (n=10). Results showed that fucoidan regulated the occurrence of fatigue during chemotherapy. Chemotherapy with fucoidan was continued for a longer period than chemotherapy without fucoidan. Additionally, the survival of patients with fucoidan treatment was longer than that of patients without fucoidan, although the difference was not significant. Thus, fucoidan may enable the continuous administration of chemotherapeutic drugs for patients with unresectable advanced or recurrent colorectal cancer, and as a result, the prognosis of such patients is prolonged.

Anti-Metastasis Effect of Fucoidan from Undaria pinnatifida Sporophylls in Mouse Hepatocarcinoma Hca-F Cells

“…It has also become the center of much attention because of its anti-cancer activity and is expected to be a new candidate for low-toxicity cancer therapy [39], [40]. The Ups-fucoidan we extracted from the U. pinnatifida sporophylls had higher sulfate content and better activities than that from other U. pinnatifida segments [24], [41].…”

Bioactive compounds from brown seaweeds: Phloroglucinol, fucoxanthin and fucoidan as promising therapeutic agents against breast cancer

“…Recently was demonstrated that patients with colorectal cancer under chemotherapeutic treatment with oxaliplatin/5-fluorouracil/leucovorin or irinotecan/ fluorouracil/leucovorin may benefit from a co-treatment with fucoidan. Decrease of some adverse effects, such as general fatigue, and a tendency to increase survival rate was reported in the group of patients that received fucoidan (Ikeguchi et al, 2011).…”

Effect of Fucoidan Dietary Supplement on the Chemotherapy Treatment of Patients with Unresectable Advanced Gastric Cancer

“…In the present study, we used a high-molecular-weight product of fucoidan derived from Cladosiphon okamuranus (Okinawa mozuku) by Marine Products Kimuraya Co., Ltd. (Tottori, Japan). In the fucoidan group, every patient took 150 mL/day of liquid that contained 4.05 g fucoidan for 6 months after commencing chemotherapy [5].…”

“…Previously, we reported that fucoidan could reduce the toxicity of combination chemotherapy with oxaliplatin plus 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)/leucovorin (LV) (FOLFOX) or irinotecan plus 5-FU/LV (FOLFIRI) for patients with advanced colorectal cancer [5]. Fucoidan is a sulfated polysaccharide that is found in various species of brown seaweed, such as kombu, wakame, mozuku, and hijiki.…”