Table 2.

Relevant anti-cancer cell effects induced by sea cucumber compounds

Compound	Cell effect	Source	Ref.
24-dehydroechino-side A (DHEA)	Inhibit HepG2 cell migration and invasion, decrease MMP-9, increase TIMP-1, VEGF, & NF-κB (by HA1)	Pearsonothuria graeffei	[60]
Aqueous extract	Attenuate tumor size, induce intrinsic apoptosis	Holothuria arenicola	[25]
Colochiroside A	Exhibit antitumor activity	Colochirus anceps	[30]
Crude saponin	Induce apoptosis: upregulation of caspase-3 & 9	Holothuria leucospilota	[31]
Cucumarioside A2–2	Inhibit growth of tumor cells multidrug resistance, induce apoptosis in a caspase-dependent way	Cucumaria japonica	[32] [33] [61]
Ds-echinoside A	Suppress migration, MMP-9, and VEGF; cell cycle arrest (increase p16, p21, and c-myc; decreased cyclin D1), induce apoptosis by decreased Bcl-2, NF-κB, and increase TIMP-1 & caspase-3	Peasonothuria graeffei	[14] [34]
Echinoside A	Induce apoptosis (decrease Bcl-2, and enhance caspase-3), cell cycle arrest (increase p16, p21, and c-myc, decrease cyclin D1)	Holothuria nobilis Peasonothuria graeffei	[34] [35]
Frondanol A5	Increase p21, GiLT expression, macrophage phagocytosis & apoptosis	Cucumaria frondosa	[36] [62]
Polar extract of frondanol A5	Decrease expression of cyclin A, cyclin B, and cdc25c, and increased expression of p21	Cucumaria frondosa	[36]
Frondoside A	Anti-metastatic (by antagonize EP4, TPA-induced MMP-9 activation via NF-κB and AP-1 signaling), inhibit tumor cells multidrug resistance, induce apoptosis (via caspase-3, −8, and −9, PARP, Bax, p21, p53), inhibit pro-survival autophagy	Cucumaria frondosa	[13] [38] [39] [43] [40] [41] [61] [63] [64]
Glycosides 1 & 2	Activate NF-kappaB and degrade Ikappa B alpha in A549 tumor cell line (cytotoxic activity)	Psolus patagonicus	[65]
Intercedensides A, B, and C	Exhibit anti-neoplastic activity	Mensamaria intercedens	[66]
Methanolic extracts	Increase ROS formation, and cytochrome c release	Holothuria parva	[59]
Philinopside A	Inhibit proliferation, migration, angiogenesis, RTKs in several cell lines	Pentacta quadrangularius	[56]
Philinopside E	Induce cell apoptosis, inhibit tumor growth, anti-angiogenic via inhibition of KDR-αvβ3 integrin	Pentacta quadrangularius	[57] [67]
Sea cucumber fraction	Exhibit radical scavenging property, inhibit angiogenesis, and vascularization	Sea cucumber	[68] [69]
Sphingoid bases	Induce apoptosis through caspase-3 activity, upregulation of DR5, Bax, GADD45, and PPARγ, and downregulation of p-AKT	Stichopus variegates	[21] [48]
Stichoposide C	Induce apoptosis of leukemia and colorectal cancer cells	Thelenota anax	[58]
Stichoposide D	Induce cell apoptosis	Thelenota anax	[49]