Marine Drugs (Feb 2017)

Antitumor Effects of Laminaria Extract Fucoxanthin on Lung Cancer

  • ChengHan Mei,
  • ShunChang Zhou,
  • Lin Zhu,
  • JiaXiong Ming,
  • FanDian Zeng,
  • Rong Xu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/md15020039
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 2
p. 39

Abstract

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Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide and non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common type. Marine plants provide rich resources for anticancer drug discovery. Fucoxanthin (FX), a Laminaria japonica extract, has attracted great research interest for its antitumor activities. Accumulating evidence suggests anti-proliferative effects of FX on many cancer cell lines including NSCLCs, but the detailed mechanisms remain unclear. In the present investigation, we confirmed molecular mechanisms and in vivo anti-lung cancer effect of FX at the first time. Flow cytometry, real-time PCR, western blotting and immunohistochemistry revealed that FX arrested cell cycle and induced apoptosis by modulating expression of p53, p21, Fas, PUMA, Bcl-2 and caspase-3/8. These results show that FX is a potent marine drug for human non-small-cell lung cancer treatment.

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