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Identification and anti-cancer activity in 2D and 3D cell culture evaluation of an Iranian isolated marine microalgae Picochlorum sp. RCC486

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Abstract

Purpose

Cancer disease is the second cause of death in the world. Now a days, high percentage of drugs, which are involved in treatment of cancers, have natural origin. Introduction of microalgae strains as anti-cancer drugs origin is a valuable approach for cancer therapy.

Methods

In the present study we describe the isolation, characterization, and anti-proliferative activity of a new microalga strain (Picochlorum sp. RCC486) from Iran. The cytotoxic activity of four different algal extracts including methanol, ethyl acetate, chloroform, and hexane were evaluated against MDA-MB-231, MCF-7, Hep-G2, and A-549 cell liens. Cell viability was determined using MTT assay in both monolayer and spheroids 3D cultures. The apoptosis was confirmed by different methods such as AO/EB and Annexin V-FITC/PI double staining, caspase-3 colorimetric assay, ROS and MMP assay.

Results

The results of MTT assay and fluorescent double staining confirmed that methanol and ethyl acetate extracts showed the best cytotoxic activity against the cancer cell lines. The production of ROS, caspase-3 activity and depolarized MMP were quite significant in MDA-MB-231 cell line treated with methanol and ethyl acetate extracts.

Conclusion

In this research we revealed that cytotoxicity and apoptotic effects of the methanol and ethyl acetate extracts in human cancer cells make them good candidates for further pharmacological studies to discover effective drugs for cancer therapy.

The present study describes the isolation, characterization, and anti-proliferative activity of different extracts of a new microalga strain (Picochlorum sp. RCC486) from Iran. The antiproliferative and apoptosis inducing activity of ethyl acetate and methanol extracts with high content of phenol and carotenoid make them as good candidates for further pharmacological studies to discover effective drugs for cancer therapy.

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Acknowledgements

This work has been supported by the Center for International Scientific Studies & Collaboration (CISSC) and the National Institute for Medical Research Development Grant No. 940609. We also thanks to Professor Nasrin Moazami for her kind assistance in providing the strain.

Funding

This work has been supported by the Center for International Scientific Studies & Collaboration (CISSC) (Grant No. 1465) and the National Institute for Medical Research Development (Grant No. 940609).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Hamedan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Hamedan, Iran

    Mohammad Haji Abolhasani & Seyed Mehrdad Kassaee

  2. Department of Biotechnology, Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology, P. O. Box 3353-5111, Tehran, Iran

    Maliheh Safavi & Mehrdad Azin

  3. Research Center for Molecular Medicine, Hamedan University of Medical Sciences, Hamedan, 65178, Iran

    Mohammad Taghi Goodarzi

Authors
  1. Mohammad Haji Abolhasani
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  2. Maliheh Safavi
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  3. Mohammad Taghi Goodarzi
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  4. Seyed Mehrdad Kassaee
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Correspondence to Maliheh Safavi.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Not applicable. This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Abolhasani, M.H., Safavi, M., Goodarzi, M.T. et al. Identification and anti-cancer activity in 2D and 3D cell culture evaluation of an Iranian isolated marine microalgae Picochlorum sp. RCC486. DARU J Pharm Sci 26, 105–116 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40199-018-0213-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40199-018-0213-5

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