Metastasis is responsible for the majority of cancer-associated deaths, though only a very small number of tumor cells are able to efficiently complete all the steps of that process. Tumor cell survival in the bloodstream is one of the limiting aspects of the metastatic cascade. The formation of tumor cell–platelet complexes that promote tumor cell survival is facilitated by the binding of P-selectin on activated platelets to sialyl Lewis-containing oligosaccharides on the surface of tumor cells. Inhibition of this interaction has been shown to attenuate metastasis. Heparin is a potent selectin inhibitor and is capable to block platelet–tumor cell complex formation, thereby attenuating metastasis. Similarly, other sulfated polysaccharides isolated from marine invertebrates attenuate metastasis by a P-selectin-mediated mechanism. In this work, we investigated the selectin-dependent antimetastatic activity of sea urchin sulfated polysaccharides with slight structural differences: a sulfated fucan from Strongylocentrotus franciscanus; a sulfated fucan from Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis; and a sulfated galactan from Echinometra lucunter. The results demonstrate that these fucans and the galactan have different antiselectin activities despite being very similar molecules. Therefore, they may be interesting tools for studies on the structure–function relationship or even for future treatments.

中文翻译：

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海胆中的硫酸化岩藻聚糖和硫酸化的半乳聚糖作为选择素依赖性血源性转移的有效抑制剂

转移是导致大多数与癌症相关的死亡的原因，尽管只有极少数的肿瘤细胞能够有效完成该过程的所有步骤。血液中的肿瘤细胞存活是转移级联的局限性之一。活化血小板上的P-选择素与肿瘤细胞表面含唾液酸路易斯的寡糖结合，可促进肿瘤细胞-血小板复合物的形成，从而促进肿瘤细胞的存活。已经表明抑制这种相互作用可以减弱转移。肝素是一种有效的选择素抑制剂，能够阻断血小板-肿瘤细胞复合物的形成，从而减缓转移。同样，从海洋无脊椎动物中分离出的其他硫酸化多糖通过P-选择蛋白介导的机制减弱转移。在这项工作中，圆叶圆线虫; 一种得克支链霉菌的硫酸盐富聚糖; 和硫酸的半乳糖从棘壳菌lucunter。结果表明，尽管这些岩藻聚糖和半乳聚糖分子非常相似，但它们具有不同的抗选择素活性。因此，它们可能是研究结构-功能关系甚至将来治疗的有趣工具。