Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Alexandria University, Egypt.
Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Alexandria University, Egypt; Head of International Publication and Nanotechnology Center INCC, Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy and Drug Manufacturing, Pharos University of Alexandria, Egypt.
Int J Biol Macromol. 2020 Mar 15;147:799-808. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2019.11.191. Epub 2019 Nov 23.
Fucoidan is an edible algae that has long been used as part of east Asians' diet. Recently, various pharmacological activities of the polymer have been discovered including its ability to act as antimicrobial, anti-thrombotic, antiviral, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer. This review is the first to focus on the anti-cancer ability of this biopolymer and factors affecting it. The review discusses the mechanism by which fucoidan can kill cancer cells efficiently without having chemotherapeutic side effects and the ability of fucoidan to act as an adjuvant to classic therapy. Furthermore, multifaceted nanotechnological applications of fucoidan in cancer treatment were reviewed. Fucoidan nanoparticles with efficient drug loading and release had been developed. The polymer had also been used as coating material for different organic and inorganic nanoparticles imparting biocompatibility characters to these systems. Most recently, there has been a focus on the role of fucoidan as active targeting ligand for cancer cells. The polymer could target P-selectin receptors over-expressed on cancer cells in nanomolar concentrations. Combining all these activities, fucoidan could be considered as one of the most important biopolymers combating cancer during tailoring of cancer nanomedicine. Finally, we discussed safety of fucoidan, challenges facing its application on industrial scale and future projections.
岩藻聚糖是一种可食用的藻类，长期以来一直被用作东亚人饮食的一部分。最近，人们发现了该聚合物的各种药理活性，包括其作为抗菌、抗血栓、抗病毒、抗炎和抗癌的能力。这是第一篇专门关注该生物聚合物抗癌能力及其影响因素的综述。本文讨论了岩藻聚糖能够有效杀死癌细胞而没有化疗副作用的机制，以及岩藻聚糖作为经典疗法辅助剂的能力。此外，还综述了岩藻聚糖在癌症治疗中的多方面纳米技术应用。已经开发出具有高效药物负载和释放能力的岩藻聚糖纳米粒子。该聚合物还被用作不同有机和无机纳米粒子的涂层材料，赋予这些系统生物相容性特征。最近，人们关注的焦点是岩藻聚糖作为癌细胞主动靶向配体的作用。该聚合物可以在纳摩尔浓度下靶向癌细胞过度表达的 P-选择素受体。结合所有这些活性，岩藻聚糖可以被认为是在癌症纳米医学定制过程中对抗癌症的最重要的生物聚合物之一。最后，我们讨论了岩藻聚糖的安全性、在工业规模应用上面临的挑战以及未来的展望。
