Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is difficult to treat with anticancer drugs. Therefore, development of new drugs for HCC is required.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

The livers of 14 hepatoma patients accompanied by hepatitis B (2 cases) and hepatitis C (12 cases) were used. The biotinidase kinetics of HCC tissues were compared to those of the adjacent liver tissues of 13 liver cirrhosis (LC) and 1 chronic active hepatitis (CAH).

RESULTS:

The Kip (the inhibition constant by biotin) of HCC tissues were consistently higher than those of LC (plus CAH) tissues: the Kip was 450+/-231 micromol/l in HCC tissues and 240+/-111 micromol/l in LC (plus CAH) tissues, p<0.001. This increase of Kip is considered to be due to an increase of biotin repulsion by biotinidase in the HCC tissues. Fucoidan, a sulfated poly-fucose, was found to decrease the Kip of biotinidase in HCC tissues, and conversely to increase it in LC tissues. Fucoidan was also found to decrease the Kip of the hepatoma HuH-6 cells.

CONCLUSION:

These findings suggest that fucoidan has a potential therapeutic effect on HCC.