A type of brown marine seaweed contains brown algae called poly-phenols (BAPs), that might protect against skin cancers caused by ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation. UVB radiation in sunlight is thought to be responsible for most cases of non-melanoma skin cancers diagnosed in the United States.

Research has shown that BAPs are strong antioxidants and have many anti-cancer properties. The animals that were fed the brown algae in their diet had a reduction of skin tumors up to sixty percent.

The study was led by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. "These compounds seemed to be dramatically effective at fairly low doses both orally and topically" says principal investigator Gary D Stoner.

While the effectiveness of a seaweed extract acting as a potent inhibitor of human papilloma viruses, HPV, that can lead in some cases to cervical cancer, has not been tested in any human clinical trials -- in the lab it has impressed the National Cancer Institute researchers who have been studying it.

According to researchers, carrageenan extracted from marine red algae (seaweed) showed a thousand-fold greater potency compared with other inhibitors they have tested in halting HPV.

Dr. John Schiller, senior investigator at the National Cancer Institute, who was involved in the development of the HPV vaccine, made the carrageenan discovery.

Schiller cautions that the results do not prove that carrageenan will work as a practical HPV topical microbicide. However, the positive results in the lab, together with the fact that carrageenan-based over-the-counter products are already available -- make carrageenan look even more promising to researchers in blocking the sexual transmission of HPV.

The new cervical cancer vaccine is effective for about 70 percent of the HPV viruses that can cause cervical cancer. It is also an expensive vaccine that might prove cost prohibitive for low-income women in economically distressed countries. The researchers think, if carrageenan proves as effective in human clinical trails as it has in the lab, the inexpensive carrageenan could be a significant benefit in the prevention of HPV.

One researcher, Dr. Connie Trimble, an HPV researcher at Johns Hopkins University, feels so positive about the recent advancements and discoveries in relation to cervical cancer that she said, "With all the potential tools now, we could really start to think about the end of cervical cancer. Between the vaccines and some of the prophylactics -- wouldn't that be a medical success story!"