Table 4.

Summary of the impact of carrageenan on cancer.

Type of Carrageenan	Cell Type	Mechanism and/or Effect	Study
κ and λ	cervical carcinoma cell lines HeLa	stopping the cell cycle in G1 (only λ carrageenan) and G2 phases (λ and κ carrageenan), delaying cycle progression and consequently inhibiting tumor cell growth	Prasedya et al. BMC Complement Altern Med, 2016 [91]
extracted from Gigartina pistillata	colorectal cancer stem cells	reduction in cell viability in tumor zones	Cotas et al. Mar Drugs, 2020 [93]
λ	breast cancer cells 4T1 and melanoma cells B16-F10	reduction in tumor weight and volume and increasing the tumor immune response by raising more activated CD4+ and CD8+ T-lymphocytes in the spleen and M1 macrophages that infiltrate the tumor (after intratumoral injection)	Luo et al. Sci Rep, 2015 [94]
κ	malignant breast cancer cell lines MCF-7	decrease in cell viability, potential apoptotic effect	Sayın et al. Aegean J Med Sci, 2022 [92]
λ extracted from Laurencia papillosa	breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231	decrease in cell viability, inhibition of cell proliferation, regulating genes involved in apoptosis, cell growth in the sub-G1 phase	Jazzara et al. Int J Cancer Manag, 2016 [96]
κ extracted from Hypnea musciformis	breast cancer cell line MCF-7 and neuroblastoma cell line SH-SY5Y	reduction in proliferative capacity, but lack of cytotoxic effects	Souza et al. Int J Biol Macromol, 2018 [97]
κ- and λ-from Chondrus armatus and low-molecular weight degradation products	esophageal cancer cell lines KYSE30 and FLO1	cytostatic activity (higher for low-molecular weight degradation products), monocytes induction to produce pro-inflammatory cytokines, induction of anti-inflammatory cytokine secretion (observed only for a λ carrageenan low-molecular weight degradation product)	Cicinskas et al. J Biomed Mater Res A, 2020 [98]