Genetic and Histopathological Alterations in Caco-2 and HuH-7 Cells Treated with Secondary Metabolites of Marine fungi

AbstractThe present work aimed to  study the activity of naturally derived fungal secondary metabolites as anticancer agents concerning their cytotoxicity, apoptotic, genetic, and histopathological profile. It was noticed thatAspergillus terreus,Aspergillus flavus, andAspergillus fumigatus induced variable toxic potential that was cell type, secondary metabolite type, and concentration dependent. Human colonic adenocarcinoma cells (Caco-2) showed less sensitivity than hepatocyte-derived cellular carcinoma cells (HuH-7), and in turn, the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) was variable. Also, the apoptotic potential ofAspergillus species-derived fungal secondary metabolites was proven via detection of up-regulated pro-apoptotic genes and down-regulation of anti-apoptotic genes. The expression level was cell type dependent. Concurrently, apoptotic profile was accompanied with cellular DNA accumulation at theG2/M phase, as well as an elevation in Pre-G1 phase but not during G0/G1 and S phases. Also, there  were characteristic apoptotic features of treated cells presented as abnormal intra-nuclear eosinophilic structures, dead cells with mixed euchromatin and heterochromatin, ruptured cell membranes, apoptotic cells with irregular cellular and nuclear membranes, as well as peripheral chromatin cond ensation. It can be concluded thatAspergillus secondary metabolites are promising agents that can be used as supplementary agents to the  currently applied anti-cancer ...
Source: Journal of Gastrointestinal Cancer - Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: research