The Anticancer Effect of Fucoidan in PC-3 Prostate Cancer Cells

Marine Drugs

Hye-Jin Boo³  Ji-Young Hong³  Sang-Cheol Kim³  Jung-Il Kang³  Min-Kyoung Kim³  Eun-Ji Kim³  Jin-Won Hyun¹  Young-Sang Koh⁴  Eun-Sook Yoo³  Jung-Mi Kwon² 

[1] Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Jeju National University, 102 Jejudaehakno, Jeju 690-756, Korea; E-Mail:;Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, Jeju National University, 102 Jejudaehakno, Jeju 690-756, Korea;Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Jeju National University, 102 Jejudaehakno, Jeju 690-756, Korea; E-Mails:;Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Jeju National University, 102 Jejudaehakno, Jeju 690-756, Korea; E-Mail:

关键词: fucoidan;    PC-3 cells;    apoptosis;    Wnt/β-catenin;   

DOI  :  10.3390/md11082982

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Fucoidan, a sulfated polysaccharide, has a variety of biological activities, such as anti-cancer, anti-angiogenic and anti-inflammatory. However, the mechanisms of action of fucoidan as an anti-cancer agent have not been fully elucidated. The present study examined the anti-cancer effect of fucoidan obtained from Undaria pinnatifida in PC-3 cells, human prostate cancer cells. Fucoidan induced the apoptosis of PC-3 cells by activating both intrinsic and extrinsic pathways. The induction of apoptosis was accompanied by the activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase mitogen-activated protein kinase (ERK1/2 MAPK) and the inactivation of p38 MAPK and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt. In addition, fucoidan also induced the up-regulation of p21^Cip1/Waf and down-regulation of E2F-1 cell-cycle-related proteins. Furthermore, in the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, fucoidan activated GSK-3β that resulted in the decrease of β-catenin level, followed by the decrease of c-myc and cyclin D1 expressions, target genes of β-catenin in PC-3 cells. These results suggested that fucoidan treatment could induce intrinsic and extrinsic apoptosis pathways via the activation of ERK1/2 MAPK, the inactivation of p38 MAPK and PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, and the down-regulation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in PC-3 prostate cancer cells. These data support that fucoidan might have potential for the treatment of prostate cancer.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.