Abstract

ANTICANCER ACTIVITY OF JELLYFISH, CHRYSAORA QUINQUECIRRHA (DESOR 1848) FROM VELLAR ESTUARY, SOUTHEAST COAST OF INDIA

Suganthi Krishnan*, Perumal Pachiappan , Tufail Ahmed Mazharbasha andKeerthana Ranganathan

Abstract

Background: Marine organisms are considered to be an inexhaustiblesource of chemical compounds that produce a wide variety ofbiologically active secondary metabolites. Scyphozoan jellyfishes havebecome an important target for the biotechnology industry because ofthe large number of bioactive compounds recently discovered fromthem. Objective: The present investigation pertains to the evaluationof the anticancer activity of extracts of jellyfish Chrysaoraquinquecirrha, collected from Vellar estuary, South east coast of India.Methodology: The nematocyst extracts of tentacles of jellyfish werecharacterized for protein contents and their anticancer potential wasdetermined on human lung cancer cell lines (A549) with 205.0 μgGI50. Results: The study showed that the extracted peptides could beamino acid residues (secondary amides) which might be responsible for the anticancerpotential on human lung cancer cell lines (A549). Conclusions: Marine organisms areconsidered to be an inexhaustible source of chemical compounds that produce a wide varietyof biologically active secondary metabolites. Scyphozoan jellyfishes have become animportant target for the biotechnology industry because of the large number of bioactivecompounds recently discovered from them. This paper focuses on the anticancer potential ofmarine species with certain pharmaceutical interest, which could confer anticancer activity.

Keywords: Anticancer, marine compounds, jellyfish, venom.