Antiproliferative evaluation of tall-oil docosanol and tetracosanol over CHO-K1 and human melanoma cells

Article history:Received 21 January 2015Accepted 2 May 2015Available online 28 May 2015Keywords:CHO-K1 cellsGrowth-arrestedHuman melanoma cellsPolycosanols Background:Polycosanolsderivedfromplantspecieshavetraditionallybeenusedinmedicineasantiproliferativeagentsfortreatingvariousviruses(primarilytheherpessimplexvirus).However,fewstudieshavestudiedtheireffects on hyperproliferative cell lines. In this work, the antiproliferative capacity of polycosanols from tall-oilpitch, obtained from black liquor soaps in the kraft pulping process of cellulose (specifically from Pinus radiata,Pinus taede,andEucalyptus globulus), was evaluated on CHO-K1 and CRL-1974 human melanoma cell lines.Results: The proliferative capacities and cell viabilities were measured for 72 and 140 h, respectively. TreatmentwithdocosanolproduceddifferentialeffectsontheCHO-K1andhumanmelanomacellsandsignificantlyaffectedtheir proliferation rates, but not their cell viabilities. Tetracosanol produced a significant negative effect on theproliferation of human melanoma cells, and this effect was less than that caused by docosanol. However, it hadno effect on the proliferation of CHO-K1 cells and did not induce any significant effect on the viability of thestudied cell lines.Conclusion: Docosanol and tetracosanol induced antiproliferative effects on the studied cell lines and exhibitedsignificantly greater effects on the oncogenic cell lines. Prior to this study, the capacity of these polycosanolshas never been investigated. Future studies will be necessary to determine their mechanisms of action onthese cell systems.©2015Pontificia UniversidadCatolicadeValparaiso. Production and hosting byElsevierB.V. Allrights reserved.