Objective: To investigate the therapeutic adjuvant potential of fucoidan in cervical cancer and to evaluate its efficacy in combination with immunotherapy.
Methods: Fucoidan extracted from Fucus vesiculosus was dissolved in phosphate buffered saline and used to treat TC-1 cervical cancer cells in vitro as well as tumor-bearing C57BL/6 mice in vivo. Mice were divided into four groups: the vehicle control group, the mRNA therapy-alone group, the fucoidan-only group, and the combination group. MAPK signaling proteins (p-ERK, T-ERK, p-p38) were analyzed by Western blotting assays. T cell surface markers and intracellular cytokines in splenocytes were assessed by flow cytometry, and plasma cytokine levels were measured by ELISA.
Results: Fucoidan decreased the p-ERK/T-ERK ratio and p-p38. Fucoidan combined with mRNA therapy did not significantly affect CD4+ T-cell activation but reduced CD8+ T-cell activation compared with mRNA therapy alone. MCP-1 and IFN-γ were significantly reduced in the combination therapy group compared with mRNA therapy alone, while IL-6, TNF-α, perforin, and granzyme B did not show significant changes between the two groups.
Conclusions: These findings suggest that fucoidan could inhibit excessive T cell activation and cytokine production by suppressing MAPK p-p38 protein expression.
Conflict of interest statement
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
Funding
The article received no extramural funding.
Data availability statement
The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.
Authors’ contributions
JWL was involved in experiment and data processing steps, as well as revision of original draft. SIP and DK contributed to data curation, experiment, methodology, and project administration. SYL was involved in writing-review and editing, and data curation.
Publisher’s note
The Publisher of the Journal remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
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