title: Separation of glycine-rich proteins from sea hare eggs and their anti-cancer activity against U937 leukemia cell line.
abstract: The present study was designed to investigate the anti-cancer effects of Sea hare eggs (SE) in U937 cells and its major active components. The aqueous extract of SE (ASE), which contained the highest protein content, dose-dependently inhibited the cancer cell's growth (IC50 value, 10.42 ± 0.5 µg/mL). Additionally, ASE markedly caused DNA damage by inducing apoptotic body formation, DNA fragmentation, and accumulation of sub-G1 DNA contents. ASE induced apoptosis by activating caspase-3 and 9 and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) by regulating the expression of Bcl-2/Bax. Moreover, among its molecular weight fractions, the > 30 kDa fraction showed the highest cell-growth-inhibitory effects, which was inhibited by heat treatment. Furthermore, the > 30 kDa fraction had markedly higher glycine content than the ASE. The presence of two protein bands at around 16 and 32 kDa was identified. In addition, two fractions, F1 and F2, were obtained using anion-exchange chromatography, with the F1 having an improved cell-growth-inhibitory effect than the > 30 kDa fraction. Taken together, these results suggest that the ASE contains glycine-rich proteins, including the active 16 and 32 kDa proteins, which account for its anti-cancer effects by inducing apoptosis via regulation of the mitochondrial pathway.
authors.affiliation: School of Marine Biomedical Sciences, Jeju National University, Jeju 63243, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Won Woo
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: College of Medical and Life Sciences, Silla University, Busan, 46958, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Won-Suck
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine Bio-Food Sciences, Chonnam National University, Yeosu 59626, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Ginnae
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.affiliation: Jeju center, Korea Basic Science Institute (KBSI), Jeju 690-140, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Kil-Nam
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Global Bioresources Research Center, Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology, Jeju, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Soo-Jin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Heo
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, Cheju National University, Jeju 63349, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Moonjae
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: School of Marine Biomedical Sciences, Jeju National University, Jeju 63243, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: I P Shanura
authors.initials: IP
authors.lastname: Fernando
authors.affiliation: School of Marine Biomedical Sciences, Jeju National University, Jeju 63243, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Nalae
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.affiliation: School of Marine Biomedical Sciences, Jeju National University, Jeju 63243, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: You-Jin
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Jeon
keywords: anti-cancer effect; apoptosis; glycine-rich protein; mitochondrial pathway; sea hare egg (SE)