Characterizing Eckol as a Therapeutic Aid: A Systematic Review

Manandhar, Bandana; Paudel, Pradeep; Seong, Su Hui; Jung, Hyun Ah; Choi, Jae Sue

As eckol exhibited a wide range of therapeutic activities, it was also tested against cancer. When treated with eckol, the glioma stem-like cell markers and self-renewal-related proteins changed their expressions, their ability to form spheres and anticancer treatment sensitivity. Eckol treatment effectively reduced the sphere formation, CD133 + cell population and concealed the expression of glioma stem-like cell markers and self-renewal-related proteins in the absence of cell death.The fusion of eckol with glioma stem-like cells diminished tumor formation and the anchorage-independent growth of cells on soft agar in xenograft mice. Eckol decreased the resistance of glioma stem-like cells to ionizing radiation and temozolomide. In addition, both the PI3K-Akt and Ras-Raf-1-Erk signaling pathways were blocked due to the eckol treatment in the glioma stem-like cell. Hence, eckol suppresses stemness and malignancies, and sensitizes glioma-stem-like cells to anticancer treatments, providing a novel therapeutic strategy specifically targeting these cells [75] .