THE CYTOTOXIC EFFECT OF RHIZOSTOME JELLYFISH VENOM ON CANCER CELL LINES AND ITS ANTITUMOR ACTIVITY IN EHRLICH ASCITES-BEARING MICE

Abstract

All of the drawbacks associated with the chemotherapy of cancer are the impetus for the search for newer and more efficacious drugs. Therefore, the current study aimed to evaluate the cytotoxic and antitumor efficacy of scyphozoan Rhizostoma octopus (rhizostome jellyfish) venom extract (RVE) against different tumor cell lines (in vitro ) and Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC)-bearing mice ( in vivo ), respectively. Four groups of female CD-1 mice (n=10) were allotted as follows: the b.wt change, tumor indices, hematological and biochemical parameters, as well as histological alterations of liver and kidneys tissues, were investigated. The results showed that RVE had high protein content with six bands ranging between 15-70 kDa, as measured by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The IC 50 of RVE against human hepatocellular (HepG-2) and breast cancer (MCF-7) cell lines were 808.4 and 896.4 µg/mL, respectively. In EAC-bearing mice, RVE treatment modulated the b.wt change, and decreased the tumor volume and the tumor cells count. In addition, the liver and kidney functions were improved in EAC-bearing mice treated with RVE, as evidenced by ameliorating their histological structure.