Structural elucidation of polysaccharide fractions from the brown alga Coccophora langsdorfii and in vitro investigation of their anticancer activity

• Laminaran, fucoidan, and alginate were isolated from the brown alga C. langsdorfii.
• Their structural characteristics were investigated by NMR spectroscopy.
• Anticancer activity of this fucoidan was investigated in comparison with activity of fucoidan having similar linear backbone from the brown alga Fucus evanescens.
• Both investigated fucoidans significantly inhibited colony formation of SK-MEL-5 and SK-MEL-28 melanoma cells and weakly inhibited colony formation of breast adenocarcinoma cells.

Laminaran, fucoidan, and alginate were isolated from the brown alga Coccophora langsdorfii collected in the Japan Sea. The structural characteristics of polysaccharides were investigated by NMR spectroscopy. The laminaran was determined as β-d-glucan, which consisted of 80% of 1,3- and 20% of 1,6-linked residues and was terminated with mannitol. The alginate was a guluronic acid-rich polysaccharide (M/G = 0.85). Fucoidan, sulfated α-l-fucan, contained a linear backbone of alternating (1 → 3)- and (1 → 4)- linked α-l-fucopyranose residues with sulfate at C2 and C4 of (1 → 3)-α-l-fucopyranose residues. Anticancer activity of this fucoidan was investigated in comparison with activity of fucoidan having similar linear backbone from the brown alga Fucus evanescens. The fucoidan from C. langsdorfii significantly inhibited colony formation of SK-MEL-5 and SK-MEL-28 melanoma cells (the percentage of inhibition was 28 and 76, respectively) and weakly inhibited colony formation of breast adenocarcinoma cells MDA-MB-231 (the percentage of inhibition was about 5). Similar results were obtained for fucoidan from F. evanescens; the percentage of inhibition of colony formation of SK-MEL-5 and SK-MEL-28 melanoma cells was 54 and 56, respectively. The inhibition of colony formation of breast adenocarcinoma cells MDA-MB-231 was weak. We suppose that other sulfated and partially acetylated fucoidans consisting of (1 → 3)- and (1 → 4)-linked α-l-fucopyranose residues may suppress progression of melanoma cell colony formation similar to fucoidans of C. langsdorfii and F. evanescens.