Cytotoxic Activity of Fatty Acids From Antarctic Macroalgae on the Growth of Human Breast Cancer Cells.

Bruna Silveira Pacheco,Pio Colepicolo,Tiago Collares,Marco Aurélio Ziemann Dos Santos,Eduarda Schultze,Fabiana Kömmling Seixas,Favero Reisdorfer Paula,Claudio Martin Pereira De Pereira,Rafael Guerra Lund,Rosiane Mastelari Martins

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2018.00185

Abstract

Macroalgae are a natural source of clinically relevant molecules such as polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids. The Antarctic environment, due to its cold climate, leads to high production of these bioactive molecules. Adenocystis utricularis, Curdiea racovitzae, and Georgiella confluens from three distinct islands in the Antarctic Peninsula were collected and analyzed for their fatty acid content by gas chromatography flame ionization detection. Results revealed that the algal extracts consisted of 22 fatty acids, of which 9 were saturated, 4 were monounsaturated, and 9 were polyunsaturated (PUFA). In addition, fucosterol was identified within the lipidic extracts. The cytotoxic activity of these fatty acids was evaluated in human breast cancer cell lines MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231. The most notable result was the effect of PUFA on the growth inhibition of cancer cells ranging from 61.04 to 69.78% in comparison to control cells. Significant cytotoxic activity of fatty acids from A. utricularis was observed at 48 h, resulting in an inhibition of growth of more than 50% for breast cancer cells at a concentration of 100 μg/mL. A cell viability assay showed that the fatty acids from A. utricularis significantly reduced cell viability (68.7% in MCF-7 and 89% in MDA-MB-231 after 72 h of exposure). At the same time, DAPI staining demonstrated chromatin condensation, and apoptotic bodies formed in cells that were cultured with fatty acids from A. utricularis. These data indicate that fatty acids from Antarctic macroalgae have the potential to reduce the proliferation of and induce apoptosis in breast cancer cells.

Highlights

Marine natural products (MNP) exhibit a wide range of biological activities, including antidiabetic, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and anticancer effects (Mayer et al, 2013; Petit and Biard, 2013)
A total of 20 different fatty acids (FA) were identified from the Ochrophyta algae A. utricularis, whereas 15 and 13 different FAs were identified from the Rhodophyta macroalgae C. racovitzae and G. confluens, respectively
PUFA constituted more than half of the total FA in the studied macroalgae, ranging from 61.04 to 69.78% of the total FA

Summary

Introduction

Marine natural products (MNP) exhibit a wide range of biological activities, including antidiabetic, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and anticancer effects (Mayer et al, 2013; Petit and Biard, 2013). More than 22,000 molecules from the marine environment have been reported (Petit and Biard, 2013) These MNP are derived from organisms such as fungi, bacteria, Macroalgae Lipids Inhibits Cancer Cells sponges, coral, as well as micro- and macroalgae. Algae comprise a polyphyletic group of photosynthetic organisms, separated into the phyla Ocrophyta, Chlorophyta, and Rhodophyta, and possess excellent capacity to adapt to extreme environmental conditions. For this reason, and in contrast to terrestrial plants, algae are able to produce a wide variety of unusual compounds such as phlorotannins (oligomers of phloroglucinol through the acetate–malonate pathway) and specific polysaccharides (e.g., sulfated) (Li et al, 2011; Brown et al, 2014). Our previous studies on algae and plants have shown that natural products from Brazilian red propolis and from Antarctic macroalgae have antitumoral activity (Frozza et al, 2013; Gambato et al, 2014; Martins et al, 2018)

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