The Potential Effect of Fucoidan on Inhibiting Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition, Proliferation, and Increase in Apoptosis for Endometriosis Treatment: In Vivo and In Vitro Study

Li-Chun Chang, Yi-Fen Chiang, Hsin-Yuan Chen, Y-H. Chen, Yun-Ju Huang, An-Chieh Liu, Shih‐Min Hsia
Biomedicines · 2020 · vol. 8(11) , pp. 528 · doi:10.3390/biomedicines8110528 · PMID:33266505 · PMC7700274 · W3108102445
article OA: gold CC0 ⤵ 8 in-corpus citations
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Fucoidan inhibited endometrial cell viability, migration, and in vivo lesion growth while reducing inflammatory markers, improving EMT, and inducing apoptosis, suggesting potential for endometriosis treatment.

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Abstract

Endometriosis is common in reproductive-age women and its pathology is to increase proliferation and migration to enhance epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition progression (EMT). However, treatments are currently limited, so it is important to explore new therapeutic drugs. Hence, in this study, we investigate the therapeutic effect of fucoidan (FC) on the progression and mechanisms of endometriosis. The cell viability of endometrial cell lines End1/E6E7 and Vk2/E6E7 treated with different concentrations of FC were assessed by 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and cell counting. Cell migration was evaluated using wound-healing assay. In an in vivo experiment, female Balb/c mice received surgically induced endometriosis followed by different concentrations of fucoidan for 6 weeks. High-frequency ultrasound imaging was applied to detect subsequent lesion growth. The results demonstrated that fucoidan inhibited the viability and migration ability of End1/E6E7 and Vk2/E6E7 cells. Additionally, the administration of fucoidan reduced the volume and weight of endometriotic lesions, decreased inflammatory cytokines and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) of serum and lesions, and improved EMT proliferation and apoptosis-related protein expression. For the first time, fucoidan indicated anti-proliferative and anti-inflammatory effects as well as inhibited EMT progression and induced apoptosis, improving endometriosis.

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endometriosis

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