Search

As marine algae are well known for their biological activities, in the present work, the brown marine alga Sargassum myriocystum was analysed for its anti-cancer potentials on in-vitro cancer cell lines. MTT assay was performed to screen for its cytotoxicity in HepG2, MCF-7 and HeLa cancer cells, followed by bioactivity guided fractionation through thin layer chromatography (TLC). The mechanism of anti-cancer action of the bioactive fraction (SF6) was evaluated by DNA fragmentation analysis, LDH activity, caspase 3,7, 10 assay, cell cycle study by flow cytometry and study of gene expression by qRT-PCR methods. The anti-angiogenic potential was checked on chick embryos by CAM assay. The characterization of bioactive compound was carried out by HPLC, ESI-MS and GC-MS studies. Significant cytotoxicity and apoptosis induction in HepG2, MCF-7 and HeLa cancer cells by SF6 were confirmed as per MTT assay results, while no toxicity was observed on normal lymphocytes. The up regulation of apoptosis regulatory genes, p53 and Bax in cancer cells by SF6 was indicated by qRT-PCR results. The anti-angiogenesis property was clearly evidenced on chick embryos through CAM assay, with significant inhibition of blood vessel formation (66%) and branching growth. Characterization of SF6 through HPLC, ESIMS, followed by GC-MS analysis indicated the presence of imidazole carboxamide and ellagic acid, which are listed in the anti-cancer database. These compounds along with some unidentified compounds in the partially purified S. myriocystum fraction appear to be majorly responsible for the anti-cancer activity of this brown alga. It can be concluded from the study results that S. myriocystum has potent antiproliferative, apoptogenic and angiogenesis inhibitory properties towards cancer cells and has the potential towards the development of anti-cancer drug molecule, after complete characterization of the bioactive compound and in-vivo validation studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]