P 216 - The antiproliferative effects of four marine invertebrate ectracts in colon cancer cells in relation to the modulation of oxidative stress-related pathways

Abstract

The goal of this study was to correlate the anti-proliferative activity of four marine invertebrate extracts on different colon cancer cell lines with free radical generation and modulation of oxidative stress-related pathways. Three human colorectal carcinoma cell lines (HGUE, HT29 and SW480) were treated with four marine extracts (10-100 µg/mL) for 24 h at 37 °C. Cell viability (IC50 values)was determined by MTT. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production was measured with DCF-DA. Mitochondrial functionality was tested by MitoTracker Red and MitoTracker Green fluorescent probes. Marine extracts reduced cell viability of colon cancer cells starting at 10 µg/mL after 24 h the exposition. From 4 tested extracts, several exhibited pronounced cytotoxic effect, at least in one of the cell lines. The inhibition of cell proliferation was correlated to an increase of intracellular ROS content and a decrease of the mitochondrial membrane potential. Our results suggest that the cytotoxic properties of the tested extracts observed in this preliminary study are due to the presence of pro-oxidant activity compounds which are responsible of the anti-proliferative effect in colon cancer cell lines. These extracts present pharmacological potential and further investigations to determine which are responsible compounds and the mechanism are currently ongoing.