Assesment of the anticancer activity of proteins extracted from the brown macroalgae Undaria pinnatifida, an invasive kelp in Argentina.

MARIEL ALEJANDRA FUSCO; GABRIELA ROCHA; GABRIEL ALEJANDRO DE DIEGO; FLORENCIA CONTI

Mar del Plata

Congreso; Reunión anual de Biociencia 2019; 2019

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Clínica

Cancer has become the leading cause of death in developed countries and the second in developing countries. Therefore, finding safe and effective immunotherapeutic agents for the treatment of the disease has become a key topic. In recent years, one of the main approaches is based on the search for compounds in natural resources. For example, the chemical components from algae. Macroalgal proteins currently represent good candidate raw materials for the extraction of novel biofunctional peptides. Undaria pinnatifida is an edible brown alga, native from Asian countries where it has an annual winter growth cycle. In some introduced sites it can persist throughout the year, potentially exacerbating its impacts, as occurs in the southern coasts of Argentina. For this reason, the aim of the present work is to characterize and evaluate the cytotoxic capacity on cancer cells of the extracts from U. pinnatifida. The protein extract (PE) was obtained by the pH-shift method and ultrasound, using alkaline protein solubilization followed by isoelectric precipitation. Proteins present in the PE were analyzed by size-exclusion liquid chromatography (SEC-FPLC). Hemolytic activity, cellular activation and cytotoxic capacity of the PE were evaluated on red blood cell, PBMCs cells and MCF-7 cells, respectively. In addition, the cytokines and growth factors levels were evaluated by ELISA (IL-6, IL-10, IFN-g and TGF-ß). The protein content of the PE was calculated as 6.3 ± 0.5 mg g-1 biomass (dry weight basis). PE presents antitumor activity with cytotoxicity against MCF-7 cells (60-82 ± 5 %). We obtained that the PE produces a greater metabolic relative viability on PBMCs (214.7-270.0 ± 0.5 %). PE affects the production of cytokines. Moreover, the PE did not affect human red blood cells (6.0-9.3 ± 0.4 % hemolysis). These preliminary results are promising for the development of new therapeutic agents or as immunotherapeutic treatments against cancer.