ANTIPROLIFERATIVE EFFECT OF CRUDE PROTEINS EXTRACTED FROM MARINE CLAM DONAX VARIABILIS ON HUMAN CANCER CELL LINES

Marine environment is a huge reservoir of various important resources for new bioactive molecule discovery from marine organisms. The aim of this investigation is to evaluate the anti-proliferative potential of crude proteins extracted from different organs of Donax variabilis (gills, adductor muscles, mantle and whole tissue) on human Lung (A549), oral (KB3-1), breast (MCF-7) and colon (HT-29) cancer cell lines. The crude proteins extracted from four different organs of marine clam were biochemically and qualitatively analysed using Native and SDS PAGE. These extracts were tested against normal (vero) cell line to determine the toxicity of crude proteins. Among the four organs, proteins from mantle potentially inhibited growth of lung, oral and breast cancer cell lines in a dose dependent manner and inhibition of growth in colon cancer cell line was time dependent when examined by MTT assay. Significant inhibition of cell viability on A549 cells observed at (IC₅₀) 100 µg/ml, KB 3-1, MCF-7 cells at (IC₅₀) 250 µg/ml concentration after 24 h of incubation and HT-29 at (IC₅₀) 500 µg/ml concentration after 48 h of incubation. The crude (mantle) protein treated cancer cell lines showed modifications in cell morphological features. Further investigation on nuclear morphology was done by propidium iodide staining under fluorescence microscope and DNA ladder assay showed fragmented pattern of DNA that confirms induction of apoptosis. On observation, it can be concluded that crude extract (mantle) from D. variabilis highly effective against human cancer in-vitro.