Fucoidan for Lung Cancer Therapy: A Review of Classification, Mechanisms, and Preclinical Studies

Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers, resulting in numerous deaths worldwide. It is classified into small-cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. The non-small cell lung cancer accounts for approximately 80% of all cases. Current chemotherapeutic treatments, often limited by severe side effects and toxicity to healthy tissues, underscore the need for more effective and better-tolerated therapies. Natural compounds, such as fucoidan, a sulfated polysaccharide extracted from brown algae, offer a promising avenue for developing such treatments due to their ability to eliminate tumor cells, delay tumor growth, and improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs. Furthermore, fucoidan has received much attention in cancer therapy owing to its various advantages, including its abundance in natural sources, unique structural features of sulfate groups capable of interacting with receptors involved in cancer suppression, and its ability to modulate multiple cancer pathways. This review provides an overview of key factors contributing to lung cancer development, introduces the chemical structure and classification of fucoidans, and comprehensively examines their antilung cancer mechanisms, including apoptosis induction, proliferation inhibition, metastatic suppression, and immune modulation at the cellular level. Drug discovery and preclinical studies evaluating fucoidan in lung cancer therapy are summarized and discussed. Finally, current challenges and future research directions for fucoidan-based drug design are addressed, focusing on the steps necessary to translate promising preclinical findings into clinical applications.