Journal
MARINE DRUGS
Volume 11, Issue 7, Pages 2347-2364Publisher
MDPI AG
DOI: 10.3390/md11072347
Keywords
fucoidan; leukemic cells; apoptosis; p38 MAPK; Bcl-2
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Funding
- National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF, Seoul, Korea)
- Korea government [2012-0000476, 2012-0000897]
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The present study investigated possible mechanisms on the apoptosis induction of human leukemic cells by fucoidan, a sulfated polysaccharide found in marine algae. Fucoidan treatment of cells resulted in inhibition of growth and induction of apoptosis, as measured by 3-(4,5-dimetylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium (MTT) assay, fluorescence microscopy, DNA fragmentation, and flow cytometry analysis. The increase in apoptosis was associated with the proteolytic activation of caspases, Bid cleavage, insertion of pro-apoptotic Bax into the mitochondria, release of cytochrome c from mitochondria to cytosol, and loss of mitochondria membrane potential (MMP) in U937 cells. However, apoptosis induced by fucoidan was attenuated by caspase inhibitors, indicating that fucoidan-induced apoptosis was dependent on the activation of caspases. Furthermore, fucoidan treatment effectively activated the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and p38 MAPK inhibitor, SB203580, and significantly reduced fucoidan-induced apoptosis through inhibition of Bax translocation and caspases activation, suggesting that the activation of p38 MAPK may play a key role in fucoidan-induced apoptosis. In addition, the authors found fucoidan-induced significantly attenuated in Bcl-2 overexpressing U937 cells, and pretreatment with fucoidan and HA 14-1, a small-molecule Bcl-2 inhibitor, markedly increased fucoidan-mediated apoptosis in Bcl-2 overexpressing U937 cells. Our findings imply that we may attribute some of the biological functions of p38 MAPK and Bcl-2 to their ability to inhibit fucoidan-induced apoptosis.
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