Fucoidan Cancer Treatment (FCT)

From Seaweed to a Potential Cancer Treatment Drug…

Fucoidan

Fucoidan is an acidic polysaccharide composed of sulfated sugar. It can inhibit tumor growth, block the formation of tumor blood vessels, and activate anti-tumor immunity.
Extraction

Fucoidan has been previously extracted by treating raw seaweed with hot water or acidic solutions via microwaves. However, the newly developed extraction method with a hot water bath instead of microwaving, is much more efficient and facilitated.
Bladderwrack

Fucoidan is commonly found in various brown seaweed species. Brown seaweed is found along the Northern Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States. For this project, we used specifically the Fucus Vesiculosus species or Bladderwrack seaweed.

Facilitated Extraction

Previous studies and research articles showed complicated and less efficient methods of extraction. We developed a facilitated and improved protocol, by replacing the microwave method to a hot water bath for extracting Fucoidan, the potential drug for Ewing’s Sarcoma.

Leading the Project

Katharina Wang, a current senior at Central Jersey College Prep Charter School, brought her passion for research and hands-on experiments to the project. With her passion and determination to find a cure for cancer, she leads to extract fucoidan from Bladderwrack and use it as a potential natural treatment. Gathering seven high school students and an inspiring mentor, the team have set three main goals to achieve over the course of the project:

Develop a facilitated version of fucoidan extraction from Bladderwrack;

Quantify the concentration of fucoidan in each of the three components of Bladderwrack;

Test fucoidan’s anticancer effects against lethal pediatric malignancy, Ewing’s Sarcoma, through cell culture study;

Honoring Our Graduate

Alex Wu, an alumnus of Santa Monica High School and an undergraduate student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, grew an interest in marine biology during his high school years. As a result, he developed this project to pursue his interest through researching the California Bladderwrack Seaweed and extracting the potential cancer drug, fucoidan.

Previously…

Article Research

Before conducting any experiments or analyzing any results, we read various previous research papers regarding fucoidan and its effects, as well as the extraction methods used. This allowed us to gain knowledge about fucoidan, Bladderwrack, and cancerous cell culture tests.

Fucoidan Extraction

Over the course of the Summer, we focused our project on performing laboratory experiments to extract fucoidan from dried Bladderwrack seaweed. In addition, we conducted various trials and errors to continuously review, facilitate, and improve the extraction protocol.

Electrophoresis

To ensure that we extracted the fucoidan we aimed for, we attempted to characterize our “fucoidan” through electrophoresis. We did compared various samples and a control with a ladder to match the samples’ molecular weight.

Recent Progress

Looking into cell culture for Ewing sarcoma SK-ES-1 cell line to harvest EVs to test our fucoidan samples.

We used Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC) to determine the concentration of fucoidan from different parts of the Bladderwrack plant from the stipe, blade, and bladder. As a result, we discovered the following:

Highest fucoidan concentration found in bladderwrack stipe

Highest mixture of various fucoidan molecular weights found in bladderwrack blade

Ongoing Progress

After cell culture is completed, we are looking to analyze the potential beneficial effects of fucoidan on Ewing’s Sarcoma, compare the amount of EWSRI1/FLI1 gene rearrangement expressions through ddPCR. We are also preparing for a paper publication on our discoveries, and a potential product development.