Fucose sugar by Ray Sahelian, M.D.

Fucose is a disacharide sugar found on glycans on the mammalian, insect and plant cell surfaces. Fucose is the fundamental sub-unit of the fucoidan polysaccharide. Fucose is covalently attached to glycoproteins at the cell surface.

Effect of a preparation containing a fucose rich polysaccharide on periorbital wrinkles of human voluntaries.
Skin Res Technol. 2005 Feb;11(1):47-52. Robert C, Robert AM, Robert L. Laboratoire Universitaire de Recherche en Ophtalmologie. Universite Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris 6), Faculte de Medecine Broussais-Hôtel Dieu. 1 place du Parvis Notre Dame, 75181 Paris cedex 04, France.
We tested the effect of a preparation with fucose rich oligo- and polysaccharide (FROP-3) on periorbital wrinkles (crow's feet) on a team of voluntaries. The efficiency of a preparation containing as active principle a fucose rich polysaccharide in a base-cream for the treatment of temporal periorbital wrinkles on 20 voluntary women was tested as follows: the women applied the cream twice a day for 4 weeks. After 4 weeks of treatment, there was a significant improvement of the periorbital wrinkles for the majority of the voluntary team who tested the cream. Under the effect of 4 weeks of treatment with the FROP-3-containing cream, most of the voluntaries had their periorbital wrinkles attenuated and some women showed a total regression of crow's feet on one of their eyes.

Fucose levels in sera and in tumours of colorectal adenocarcinoma patients.
Cancer Lett. 1997 December. Fernández-Rodríguez J, Páez de la Cadena M, Martínez-Zorzano VS, Rodríguez-Berrocal FJ.
Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Immunology, University of Vigo, Spain.
Fucose levels were determined in normal and tumor-derived tissues from patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma. Total, free and bound fucose were significantly higher in the tumoral tissue. Comparison of serum fucose levels between patients with colorectal cancer and control subjects indicated no statistically significant differences in total, free and bound fucose expressed as nmol/ml serum. However, when total and bound fucose were normalized to total protein (nmol/mg protein), an elevation in both parameters was found in colorectal cancer patients, although only that for total fucose was statistically significant. A clear association between fucose content and clinical stage of patients according to the Dukes' classification can not be established, although patients at stage C showed higher levels of fucose both in serum and tissue. The current investigation provides direct evidence of a relationship between the elevation of fucose and the presence of tumor in colorectal cancer patients.

Fucose concentrations in sera from patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Clin Exp Rheumatol. 1995 Mar-April. Kamel M, Serafi T. Dr. Fakhry Hospital, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
The clinical significance of L-fucose was investigated in serum of a well characterized cohort of 135 rheumatoid arthritis patients and 60 healthy controls. In rheumatoid arthritis patients, serum L-fucose was significantly decreased. Our findings suggest that serum L-fucose is depressed in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, a promising observation since L-fucose is a safe and simple natural sugar. It may be used as an additional parameter and as an indicator for the disease activity in the follow up of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.