ANTITUMORAL AND APOPTOTIC EFFECTS OF MAGAININ II AGAINST COLO 320 DM CANCER CELL LINE

Antimicrobial peptides (AMP) showed a broad spectrum of cytotoxic activity against cancer cells, which could provide a new class of anticancer drugs. In this study, we have evaluated the cytotoxic and apoptotic activity of magainin II, an AMP compared with 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) in colo320 DM cancer cells, and magainin II cytotoxicity was assessed on vero cell line by MTT. The cells cultured in the presence or absence of magainin II and 5-FU. The magainin II inhibited cell viability in dose dependent manner was quantified by MTT assay. The IC₅₀ of magainin II was found to be 89.3nM and at this concentration the cytotoxicity was not observed in vero cell line. The cytotoxicity of the magainin II was further confirmed by lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay and neutral red uptake assay (NRU). Apoptosis induction was verified by DNA fragmentation analysis. The morphological changes in colo 320 DM cells was measured by DAPI and acridine orange/ethidium bromide staining, showed nuclear condensation, and this substantiates the apoptotic action of magainin II. The cell cycle analysis by FACS revealed that there was a accumulation of cells at G0/G1 phase in magainin II treated cells. Overall, these results revealed that magainin II has selective cytotoxicity in cancer cells and has the potential to induce apoptosis. Magainin II may offer a novel and effective therapeutic candidate in the treatment of colon cancer with potentially low cytotoxic effects on normal cells. These findings highlight the importance of magainin II as a drug capable of exerting an in vitro antitumoral activity by triggering apoptosis.