Frondoside A is a potential anticancer agent from sea cucumbers

Abstract

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. Although high cure rates are achievable with current available drugs, this is not without side effects. Hence, attention has been shifted to alternative anticancer agents coming from natural products as treatment options. Extracts from marine sea cucumbers have been investigated for such properties. Frondoside A is a natural glycoside extracted from the sea cucumber, Cucumaria frondosa, which has been used as a traditional remedy, recently, the extract was found to have potential anti-tumor properties. This narrative review aimed at critically analyzing and summarizing the literature available regarding Frondoside A anticancer properties. For that, scientific databases such as PubMed, EMBASE, and ScienceDirect were searched for the keywords; Frondoside A, cancer, metastasis, anticancer properties, and sea cucumbers. Articles in languages other than English were excluded from the study. Such review will help researchers to better tailor future experiments and will enrich the knowledge about natural compounds consumed as traditional substances.

Keywords: Anticancer properties; Frondoside A; cancer; metastasis; pro-apoptosis.