Threefold anticancer effect of fucoidan

At present the medical mechanism of fucoidan has not been fully explained, but it is well known that fucoidan carries out its antitumor effect in three ways:

1. It induces apoptosis on the cancerous cells.
2. It strengthens the immune system.
3. It suppresses the growth of the new blood vessels essential for supplying the tumor with nutrients.

Inducing apoptosis on the cancerous cells.

An average human organism is said to be made up of more than 60 trillion cells. Every cell in our body gets reborn through the process of metabolism. The life of one human being is sustained through a continuous cycle of birth and death taking place in all 60 trillion cells inside our bodies. Humans and animals don't live forever. Our life is evolving through the cycle in which one life meets death and gives way to new life. The balance of the whole Earth environment depends on the death of all living creatures. The whole Earth environment can be likened to the body of a single human being, where all the living creatures are the cells. This huge number of cells has constantly to undergo metabolic regeneration in order to sustain the health of this living body. This natural death of our cells is called apoptosis. The program that initiates apoptosis is recorded inside the genes of every cell, but sometimes because of some genetic disorder apoptosis doesn't happen. These abnormal cells, which have forgotten to die, break all the rules of our bodies and start to multiply and spread to other locations. These are the cancerous cells. Cancerous cells are dangerous because they don't die when they should and start multiplying without limit. Fucoidan is able to induce apoptosis on these kinds of cell.

Immune system strengthening effect.

Inside us there is an elaborate system that is constantly trying to seek, identify, and remove all foreign bodies. Cancerous cells inside us are originally not foreign to us but, according to some researchers, our immune system is able to identify cancerous cells inside us and try to attack and remove them. Our immune power is not always the same, and is always changing even in healthy people. The immunal functions inside our bodies are carried out through the immunocytes found in our blood (macrophages, T cells, B cells, and others), which can be increased and activated. Cancerous cells inside cancer patients lower the activity of the immune system and when the immunal activity declines, the efficiency of cancer treatment worsens as well. Accordingly, cancer patients must try activating their immune systems. It is well known that if they are able to stay positive, immune cells get activated and this leads to the overall improvement of their condition. A so-called immunotherapy is being adopted in a number of hospitals in Japan to treat cancers, but it is as yet not as common as the more traditional cancer treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Fucoidan activates the immune system through stimulating the immunocytes (immune cells) in our bodies and increasing their number. Different researchers suggest different models to explain the immunomodulating effects of fucoidan. According to one model, polysaccharide fucoidan is similar to the cell walls of bacteria, so our immune system takes it for pathogenic bacteria and starts activating and increasing the immune cells. According to other studies, polysaccharides serve to transmit information from one cell to another and thus are able to transfer the most accurate information to the immune system and help activate it.

Antiangiogenic effect (reduces the growth of new blood vessels).

Cancer cells are able to create new blood vessels independently and subsequently increase the blood inflow rich in nutrients needed for the tumor growth. If the growth of these new blood vessels can be stopped, the spreading of cancer also slows down, and the overall treatment becomes more efficient. Shark cartilage is best known for its antiangiogenic effect in Japan, but it was discovered that fucoidan has a similar effect. Please have a look at our fucoidan products.