Fucoidan in triple negative breast cancer study
Accounting for approximately 15% of all breast cancer cases, triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a particularly aggressive form with a strong propensity to spread to major organs. Conventional treatments include chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery.
The drug dasatinib, an inhibitor of a number of tyrosine kinases that regulate cell proliferation, growth, migration, differentiation and death, has also emerged as a promising inhibitor for TNBC. Whilst dasatinib has demonstrated beneficial effects in relation to TNBC tumours, it presents a number of challenges, including the development of resistance, reduced cellular uptake and adverse side effects.
Fucoidan from the seaweed Fucus vesiculosus has previously been shown to interact with P-selectin receptors, which are preferentially overexpressed in several different types of cancers (Kwak 2014, Liu et al. 2022). A recent in vitro study explored the potential of high purity fucoidan derived from Fucus vesiculosus seaweed to act as a ligand to target P-selectin receptors overexpressed in TNBC. Researchers developed a highly biocompatible formulation that, in comparison to dasatinib alone, showed significantly improved drug release, higher cellular uptake and a higher apoptosis index.
The results of the study suggest high purity fucoidan is a promising biocompatible carrier for targeted delivery and enhanced efficacy of dasatinib.
The Fucus vesiculosus fucoidan utilised in the study was manufactured by Marinova in Australia. The full paper, ‘Fucoidan-mediated targeted delivery of dasatinib-loaded nanoparticles amplifies apoptosis and endows cytotoxic potential in triple-negative breast cancer’ was published in Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces.