2.2.5. Anticancer Properties

Certain studies about the anticancer properties of fuscosterol extracted from marine macroalgae, such as *Sargassum carpophyllum*, *Turbinaria conoides*, *Dictyota ciliolata*, and *Padina sanctae-crucis*, have been published [21,35–39]. Based on the study by Jiang et al. [39], commercial fucosterols exhibit anticancer activity by inhibiting the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway in cervical cancer cell lines. In addition, fucosterol from *Sargassum fusiforme* has been observed to slow the progression of human ovarian cancer [35] and inhibit the proliferation of osteosarcoma-derived cell MG63 [21]. Tang et al. [22] isolated

steroids from *Sargassum carpophyllum* using activity-guided fractionation to determine the effect of fucosterol and other active substances on cancer cell lines. This activity is indicated by IC50, which is the concentration that results in 50% inhibition of cell growth [37]. They found that fucosterol has an IC50 value of 7.8 μg/mL against HL-60 cancer cells. A compound can exhibit one of three types of cytotoxicity: (1) potential cytotoxicity, if IC50 < 100 μg/mL, (2) moderate cytotoxicity, if 100 g/mL < IC50 < 1000 μg/mL, and it can be (3) non-toxic, if IC50 > 1000 μg/mL. Agents from a group of potentially cytotoxic compounds can be utilized as anticancer drugs, while moderately cytotoxic compounds can be used for chemoprevention to stop cancer cell growth [40]. According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), a compound is classified as having anticancer properties if its IC50 is <20 μg/mL. Published research studies prove that fucosterol as a metabolite compound in macroalgae has anticancer properties; however, further clinical studies are required.
