Author(s)

Rafaele Frassini¹, Yeslei Paulino da Silva¹, Sidnei Moura², Leonardo Zambotti Villela³, Aline Paternostro Martins³, Pio Colepicolo³, Mutue Toyota Fujii⁴, Nair S. Yokoya⁴, Cláudio Martin Pereira de Pereira⁵, Vagner Reinaldo Zingalli Bueno Pereira⁶, João Antonio Pêgas Henriques¹, Mariana Roesch-Ely^1*

¹Laboratory of Genomics, Proteomics and DNA Repair, University of Caxias do Sul, Caxias do Sul, RS, Brazil.
²Laboratory of Biosynthetic and Natural Products of Caxias do Sul, Caxias do Sul, RS, Brazil.
³Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Algae, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil.
⁴Phycologycal Research, Institute of Botany, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil.
⁵Laboratory of Lipidomics and Biorganic—LLipidomicaBio, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil.
⁶General Hospital, University of Caxias do Sul, Caxias do Sul, RS, Brazil.

Background/Aim: Antarctic seaweeds are considered a promising source of compounds with anticancer activity. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most incident cancers with high mortality rates worldwide. This work aimed to characterize chemically extracts of the Antarctic macroalgae Iridaea cordata, Cystosphaera jacquinotii and Desmarestia anceps and to evaluate the cytotoxic effects against human colon cancer HCT 116 cell line. Materials and Methods: The extracts were obtained by depletion using an ultrasound probe and were identified by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and Gas Chromatography coupled with Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). Cell viability was determined by MTT assay. Results: Hexanic and chloroform extracts of the I. cordata and the hexanic, chloroform and methanolic extracts of D. anceps were able to inhibit growth of colorectal cancer cells in the three different incubation times (24, 48 and 72 h). Through GC analysis, 01 compounds were identified in the hexane extract and 02 compounds in the chloroform extract of the algae I. cordata. The hexane extract of D. anceps macroalgae presented 5 compounds, chloroform extract 10 and methanolic extract 3 respectively, with special highlight to fucosterol. Carotenoid analysis by HPLC identified β-carotene in all species, while zeaxanthin was present in the spectrum of I. cordata and C. jacquinotii. Fucoxanthin and violaxanthin were confirmed in the brown seaweeds C. jacquinotii and D. anceps. Conclusion: Extracts of macroalgae I. Cordata and D. anceps may be a source of therapeutic agents against CRC.

Antarctic Seaweeds, Antitumor Activity, Colorectal Cancer

Frassini, R. , Silva, Y. , Moura, S. , Villela, L. , Martins, A. , Colepicolo, P. , Fujii, M. , Yokoya, N. , Pereira, C. , Pereira, V. , Henriques, J. and Roesch-Ely, M. (2019) Chemical Characterization and Cytotoxic Activity of Antarctic Macroalgae Extracts against Colorectal Cancer. Advances in Biological Chemistry, 9, 167-177. doi: 10.4236/abc.2019.95013.