Systematic synthesis of low-molecular weight fucoidan derivatives and their effect on cancer cells

Low-molecular weight type I and II fucoidan derivatives with different sulfation patterns were designed and systematically synthesized from the corresponding common key intermediate and their anti-proliferative activities and apoptosis-inducing activities against human breast cancer (MCF-7) and human cervical epithelioid carcinoma (HeLa) cells were evaluated. Our results demonstrated that one of the type II fucoidan derivatives, 9, effectively reduced the number of viable MCF-7 and HeLa cells in a dose-dependent manner without causing cytotoxicity toward normal WI-38 cells, and that the anti-proliferative activity of 9 was comparable to that of fucoidan 2 isolated from Fucus vesiculosus. Moreover, it was found that both 2 and 9 exhibited similar apoptosis-inducing activities through activation of caspase-8 and -9 on MCF-7 and HeLa cells, respectively.