Induction of apoptosis by a marine microalgal polysaccharide in a human leukemic cell line.

Abstract

An extracellular polysaccharide produced by a marine microalga Gymnodinium A3 OKU-1 strain showed a strong cytotoxicity for the human leukemia K-562 cells (CC50 = 11.6 µg/ml). We revealed that this polysaccharide induced apoptosis of K-562 cells, as shown by cell morphology, nuclear fragmentation, in situ end-labeling of fragmented DNA, and internucleosomal DNA fragmentation, suggesting that the mechanism of cytotoxicity of this polymer was based on the induction of apoptosis.