In Vitro Anti-Cancer Activity of Larval Hemolymph and Fat Body of Flesh Fly Sarcophaga argyrostoma (Diptera: Sarcophagidae)

Abstract

Insects are well recognized as a source of potentially useful compounds for modern medicine. Development of anticancer drugs from natural resources has been performed throughout the world. In the present study, anticancer activity of the hemolymph and fat body of Sarcophaga argyrostoma third larval instars is assayed against human breast cancer cell line (MDA-MB-231 cells). The cytotoxicity of the hemolymph and fat body samples were determined. The results showed that growth of MDA-MB-231 cells was inhibited at different concentrations upon 24 h of exposure. There is no inhibitory activity against Vero cells under these experimental conditions. Protein profile of the hemolymph and fat body were extracted and separated using sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Protein analysis showed differences in number of electrophoretic protein bands with different molecular weights between treated and control larvae. The present work assumes that hemolymph and fat body tissue have cytotoxicity against MDA-MB-231 cells and these results exhibit that larvae from S. argyrostoma could be used as a good source for developing anti-cancer agents and knowledge of these anti-cancer compounds will lead to better control of human disease.