title: Cytotoxic and apoptogenic activity of a methanolic extract from the marine invertebrate Ciona intestinalis on malignant cell lines.
abstract: Marine invertebrates provide a series of natural products with different biological activities. Several of these compounds and their derivatives showed a potent anticancer effect. Tunicates represent an important source of bioactive agents, leading to the isolation of ecteinascidin-743 (ET-743), a compound isolated from the Caribbean sea squirt Ecteinascidia turbinata with a potent cytotoxic activity against a variety of tumours in vitro and in vivo. Current phase II clinical trials against soft tissue sarcomas in Europe and the United States indicate that ET-743 represents a highly promising anticancer agent. Another example is aplidine from the Mediterranean tunicate Aplidium albicans, with a broad spectrum activity against various types of cancers, such as colorectal, lymphoma, thyroid and renal cancers. In the present work, we reported, for the first time, that a partially purified methanolic extract prepared from the ascidian Ciona intestinalis inhibited cell proliferation in human cell lines of different origin, including Caco2, HPB-ALL, U-937 and HL-60 and induced early apoptotic events, such as caspase-3 activation and internucleosomal DNA degradation. We suggest the presence in the Ciona intestinalis extract of bioactive compounds possessing anticancer activity.
authors.affiliation: Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, 80121, Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: Gian Luigi
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Russo
authors.forename: Gaetano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ciarcia
authors.forename: Emilio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Presidente
authors.forename: Rosa Anna
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Siciliano
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tosti
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000378:metabolism; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects*; D002938:Ciona intestinalis / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D009707:Nucleosomes / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D009707:Nucleosomes; D053148:Caspase 3