Benefits of Cucumaria Frondos

Scutellaria Barbata

October 24, 2018

Lentinula Edodes

October 24, 2018

Cucumaria Frondos

Cucumaria Frondos or the Sea Cucumber are a marine type animal that can be found in The Western Pacific and Indian Ocean.

Now you may think this is a type of vegetable, but these are a type of marine life that resembles that of a large worm or caterpillar. Typically they are collected by divers with scuba tanks or farmed in large containment pods.

Not only are they considered a delicacy in some Asian cultures, they have been known to contain a wide variety of medicinal properties.

Anti-Microbial - A search for antibacterial activity in different body parts of the green sea urchin Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis, the common starfish Asterias rubens, and the sea cucumber Cucumaria frondosa was conducted.

Antibacterial activity was detected in extracts from several tissues in all species tested, but mainly in the coelomocyte and body wall extracts.

High antibacterial activity could also be detected in gastrointestinal organs and eggs from A. rubens and in eggs from C. frondosa.

Results from the current study suggest that marine echinoderms are a potential source for the discovery of novel antibiotics.

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Chemopreventive Effect - The present study has been designed to test potential colon cancer–preventive properties of Frondanol A5, a glycolipid extract from the sea cucumber, Cucumaria frondosa, using in vivo and in vitro models of colon cancer.

Chemopreventive efficacy of Frondanol A5 was evaluated on azoxymethane-induced rat colon carcinogenesis using colonic aberrant crypt foci (ACF) as efficacy marker.

Frondanol A5 exhibits potential chemopreventive properties for colon carcinogenesis, which suggests further development of this sea cucumber extract.

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Anti-Cancer - In this study they investigated the effects and mechanism of Frondanol-A5P, a polar extract from Cucumaria frondosa, on growth inhibition and apoptosis in S2013 and AsPC-1 human pancreatic cancer cells.

Frondanol-A5 causes cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in human pancreatic cancer cells. These changes are associated with decreased expression of cyclin A, cyclin B, and cdc25c and increased expression of p21 that, at least in part, is mediated by a p38 kinase-dependent mechanism.

Because Frondanol-A5P is derived from an edible, nontoxic, sea cucumber, it may be valuable for nutritional therapy or prevention of pancreatic cancer.

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Using a syngeneic murine model of metastatic breast cancer, we now show that Frondoside A has potent antimetastatic activity. Frondoside A given i.p. to mice bearing mammary gland-implanted mammary tumors, inhibits spontaneous tumor metastasis to the lungs.

These studies identify a new function for an agent with known antitumor activity, and show that the antimetastatic activity may be due in part to a novel mechanism of action.

These studies add to the growing body of evidence that Frondoside A may be a promising new agent with potential to treat cancer and may also represent a potential new modality to antagonize EP4.

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The low-molecular-weight fucosylated chondroitin sulfate (LFCS) was prepared from native fucosylated chondroitin sulfate (FCS), which was extracted and isolated from sea cucumber Cucumaria frondosa, and the anti-cancer mechanism of LFCS on mouse Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) was investigated.

All of these data indicate LFCS may be used as anti-cancer drug candidates and deserve further study.

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The aim of this study was to determine the anti-invasive activity of frondoside A against human breast cancer cells. We investigated the inhibitory effect of frondoside A on cell clonogenicity, invasion and migration in TPA-stimulated human breast cancer cells at non-cytotoxic concentrations.

These results indicate the role of frondoside A in metastasis and its underlying molecular mechanisms, thus, suggesting frondoside A as a chemopreventive agent for metastatic breast cancer.

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Anti-Tumor - Frondoside A is a triterpenoid glycoside isolated from the sea cucumber, Cucumaria frondosa and was shown to be a highly safe compound. In this study they investigated the impact of Frondoside A on survival, migration and invasion in vitro, and on tumor growth, metastasis and angiogenesis in vivo alone and in combination with cisplatin.

Frondoside A (0.01 and 1 mg/kg/day i.p. for 25 days) significantly decreased the growth, the angiogenesis and lymph node metastasis of LNM35 tumor xenografts in athymic mice, without obvious toxic side-effects.

Frondoside A enhanced the inhibition of lung tumor growth induced by the chemotherapeutic agent cisplatin. These findings identify Frondoside A as a promising novel therapeutic agent for lung cancer.

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Anti-Apoptotic Effects - In concert with inhibition of cell growth, frondoside A induced significant morphological changes consistent with apoptosis.

Frondoside A has potent growth inhibitory effects on human pancreatic cancer cells, and the inhibition of proliferation is accompanied by marked apoptosis. Frondoside A may be valuable for the treatment or chemoprevention of this devastating disease.

(Article)