Could Fucoxanthin Interaction with Lipid Rafts Mediate its Cytotoxicity in Cancer Cells?

Raimundo Gonçalves Oliveira-Junior (1, 2) , Valérie Thiéry (1) , Odile Sergent (3) , Martine Chevanne (4, 5) , Laurent Picot (1)

1 LIENSs - LIttoral ENvironnement et Sociétés
2 UNIVASF - Universidade Federal do Vale do Sao Francisco
3 SMS - Stress, membrane et signalisation
4 Irset - Institut de recherche en santé, environnement et travail
5 Biosit : Biologie - Santé - Innovation Technologique - Structure Fédérative de Recherche en Biologie et Santé de Rennes

Fucoxanthin is a carotenoid present in brown micro-and macro algae, that induces apoptosis or autophagy in cancer cells grown in vitro. In vivo studies confirmed its interest as a natural anticancer compound, as it exerts antitumoral, antimetastatic and antiangiogenic activities in animal models. Studies focused on the pharmacology of fucoxanthin in cancer cells and tumors have revealed that it affects a wide panel of cellular, molecular and tissular processes, suggesting that its biological activity may be related in part to a nonspecific integration in cell membranes, and possible interaction with lipid rafts. Thus, preliminary data confirming this interaction of fucoxanthin with lipid rafts were obtained in mast cells and hepatoma WIF-B9 cells. We here discuss this hypothesis, in view of the critical function of lipid rafts in cancer cell survival, invasivity and communication with the tumoral microenvironment.

Mots clés: Algae; Apoptosis; Cancer; Carotenoid; Fucoxanthin; Lipid raft; Phytoplankton; Pigment

Domaines: Pharmacologie; Cancer

Raimundo Gonçalves Oliveira-Junior, Valérie Thiéry, Odile Sergent, Martine Chevanne, Laurent Picot. Could Fucoxanthin Interaction with Lipid Rafts Mediate its Cytotoxicity in Cancer Cells?. Journal of Oceanography and Marine Research, 2016, 4 (1), pp.1000144. ⟨10.4172/jomr.1000144⟩. ⟨hal-01391001⟩