title: In vitro evaluation of cytotoxic and mutagenic activity of avarol.
abstract: The cytotoxicity of avarol, a main secondary metabolite of the Mediterranean sponge Dysidea avara, was in vitro screened by MTT assay against four human tumour cell lines. The colon HT-29 tumour cells practically showed to be the only sensitive ones towards this organic compound. No toxicity was found against the fetal lung fibroblast MRC-5 cells at the concentrations tested. In comparison with doxorubicin, used as a positive control, avarol actually exhibited at least 588-fold less toxicity towards normal MRC-5 cells. Finally, comet assay indicated that DNA fragmentation was almost fivefold higher upon the treatment with doxorubicin, compared to avarol. The obtained results have actually confirmed that avarol scaffold may contribute to development of new cytostatics inspired by nature.
authors.affiliation: a National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry, CNR-ICB , Pozzuoli-Naples , Italy.|b Department of Life Sciences , Institute for Multidisciplinary Research - IMSI, University of Belgrade , Belgrade , Serbia.
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pejin
authors.affiliation: a National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry, CNR-ICB , Pozzuoli-Naples , Italy.
authors.forename: Carmine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Iodice
authors.affiliation: c University of Novi Sad, Oncology Institute Vojvodina, Sremska , Kamenica , Serbia.
authors.forename: Vesna
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kojic
authors.affiliation: c University of Novi Sad, Oncology Institute Vojvodina, Sremska , Kamenica , Serbia.
authors.forename: Dimitar
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jakimov
authors.affiliation: d Faculty of Physical Chemistry, University of Belgrade , Belgrade , Serbia.
authors.forename: Milica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lazovic
authors.affiliation: a National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry, CNR-ICB , Pozzuoli-Naples , Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tommonaro
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D053938:DNA Fragmentation / Q000187:drug effects; D019073:HT29 Cells; D006801:Humans; D009153:Mutagens / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011161:Porifera / Q000737:chemistry*; D012717:Sesquiterpenes / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D009153:Mutagens; D012717:Sesquiterpenes; C023663:avarol
keywords: Dysidea avara; comet assay; human tumours; sesquiterpenoid hydroquinone