Cytotoxic activities of some marine endophytic fungi isolated from Phallusia nigra

Ghada Mahmoud Abdelwahab; Tarek A. Abdelaziz; Mohamed Farid I. Lahloub; Ashraf Taha Khalil

Authors

Ghada Mahmoud Abdelwahab Department of Pharmacognosy, Mansoura University, 35516, Mansoura, Egypt
Tarek A. Abdelaziz Marine invertebrates, National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Red Sea Branch, 54511, Hurghada, Egypt
Mohamed Farid I. Lahloub Department of Pharmacognosy, Mansoura University, 35516, Mansoura, Egypt
Ashraf Taha Khalil Department of Pharmacognosy, Mansoura University, 35516, Mansoura, Egypt

Keywords:

Phallusia nigra, Aspergillus niger, methanolic extract, cytotoxicity, HePG2, HCT-116, MCF-7 cell lines

Abstract

Tunicates have been reported to be a wealthy source of biologically active compounds. The present study aims at isolation of endophytic filamentous fungi from Phallusia nigra, a familiar tunicate from the Red Sea, then medium optimization for the highest yield fungus which was identified as Aspergillus niger (Trichocomaceae) by Internal Transcribe Sequences (ITS) technique. Secondary metabolites of A. niger were extracted from solid fermentation medium. Different concentrations of the extract were evaluated for their potential cytotoxic activity on Hepatoblasotoma (HepG2), Colorectal carcinoma (HCT-116) and Mammary gland (MCF-7) cell lines by using tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The extract showed strong cytotoxic activity on HCT-116 and MCF-7 cell lines with IC₅₀ 12.01 and 15.53 μg/ml, respectively and moderate activity on HepG2 cell line with IC₅₀ 26.33 μg/ml. This inhibitory activity on cells growth could be probably due to the sensitivity of the cell lines to the bioactive metabolites in the extract.