Natural Products, Medicinal Plants & Marine Drugs

Marine fauna, due to have secondary metabolites, are from the most important natural resources with source of biological activity. With the development of marine drugs, biotechnological studies for identifying and isolating of bioactive

compounds from the marine fauna, especially invertebrates, has increased. So that in the marine environment, the role of marine invertebrates including echinoderms is quite striking. The sea cucumber is more interested because of long-standing experience in traditional medicine and having high protein. So far, the presence of bioactive compounds with antioxidant, anticoagulant and anticancer effects in the total extract of sea cucumbers has been reported in many research publications. In the present study, the goal of study was investigating the cytotoxic effect of peptides extracted were isolated from hydrolyzed protein of the sea cucumber muscle, Holothuria parva, by using the ultra-filteration method on the breast cancer cell line (4T1). Sea cucumber samples were collected from inter-tidal area of Persian Gulf and transport to the laboratory in containers of ice. Hydrolyzed protein of sea cucumber muscle extracts were prepared by using of Alcalase enzyme. In the following, the peptide were isolated from hydrolyzed protein of the sea cucumber muscle, using ultra-filteration method. (The peptide used were in 4 different fraction: over 30 kDa, 30-10 kDa, 10-3 kDa and less than 3 kDa peptide). The cytotoxic effect of these peptide were studied, using of MTT assay in the concentration of 0.5, 1 and 2 mg/ml on peptides over 30 kDa and the concentrations of 1.5 and 3 mg/ml on peptides 30-10 kDa and the concentrations of 1.5 and 3.5 mg/ml on peptides 10-3 kDa and the concentrations of 2.5 and 3.5 mg/ml on peptides less than 3 kDa in 2 different times 24 and 72 hours on the 4T1 breast cancer cell line with a density of 104 cells in per well. The results of MTT assay showed that, the isolated peptides possess cytotoxic effect, and the most cytotoxic effect between fractions, was observed in >30 KDa peptides at a concentration of 2 mg/ml in the 24 hour. Due to cytotoxic of these peptides on breast cancer cell line, bioactive Compounds derived from this species after purification, can be a suitable candidate for anti-tomur and anti-cancer studies.