Gracilaria edulis exhibit antiproliferative activity against human lung adenocarcinoma cell line A549 without causing adverse toxic effect in vitro and in vivo

Abstract

In the present study, the antiproliferative potential of various solvent extracts of Gracilaria edulis (GE) was tested against various cancer cell lines. In the A549 lung cancer cell line model, GE ethyl acetate extract (GEEA) (100 μg mL⁻¹) treated group showed the maximum and significant (P < 0.05) growth inhibition at 48 h. The IC₅₀ value was found to be 24.5 ± 19.1 μg mL⁻¹ at 48 h. Moreover, a low level of LDH release was observed at 48 h at various concentrations of (40, 60, 80 and 100 μg mL⁻¹) GEEA extract-treated group compared to a control group. Changes in the cell morphology and echinoid spikes formation were observed at 48 h. Safety evaluation of GEEA in a non-cancerous liver cell line, PBMC and in Wistar rats positively revealed that the extract did not show any adverse toxic effects. The GEEA extract was partially purified by column chromatography and the active fraction was characterized through LC-MS analysis. Furthermore, HPLC and FT-IR analysis of the active fractions confirmed the presence of phytol, a diterpene compound with potent antiproliferative activity, which positively suggests that the red alga G. edulis contains a potent anticancer active principle.