Inhibitory effects of fucoxanthin, a natural carotenoid, on N-myc expression and cell cycle progression in human malignant tumor cells

  • Cancer Lett. 1990 Nov 19;55(1):75-81. doi: 10.1016/0304-3835(90)90068-9.
J Okuzumi  1 ,  H Nishino ,  M Murakoshi ,  A Iwashima ,  Y Tanaka ,  T Yamane ,  Y Fujita ,  T Takahashi
Affiliations
  • 1. 1st Department of Surgery, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan.
PMID: 2245414 DOI: 10.1016/0304-3835(90)90068-9
Abstract

Fucoxanthin, a natural carotenoid prepared from brown algae, inhibited the growth of GOTO cells, a human neuroblastoma cell line. Fucoxanthin at 10 micrograms/ml reduced the growth rate of GOTO cells to 38% of the control at day 3 after drug treatment. Flowcytometric analysis revealed that fucoxanthin caused the arrest in the G0-G1 phase of cell cycle. Expression of N-myc gene was proved to be decreased by fucoxanthin as early as 4 h after treatment at 10 micrograms/ml and that may be important for the mechanism of anti-proliferative action of the carotenoid.

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