Anticancer Activity of Three Jamaican Macroalgae against Prostate, Pancreatic and Skin Cancers

Aims: Cancer is one of the leading chronic diseases that may lead to death. The search for new therapeutic, medicinal and nutraceutical compounds from folkloric plants including the marine flora are globally important objectives. Therefore the biological assessment of macroalgae is critical.

Methodology: Three macroalgae, Galaxaura oblongata, Dictyota cervicornis and Halimeda incrassata were collected from the southern coast of Jamaica and assessed for their anticancer activity against prostate, pancreatic and skin (melanoma) cancers using PC-3, MiaPaca-2 and A375 cell lines respectively. The crude hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol extracts were prepared and bio-assayed using the WST-1 cell proliferation assay.

Results: The results indicated that the crude ethyl acetate extract for three of the macroalgae; Galaxaura oblongata, Dictyota cervicornis and Halimeda incrassata; had significant activity against A375 cell line with IC50 values of 8.432, 7.48, 6.691 µg/ml respectively. No significant effect was observed against melanoma cells for neither the crude hexane nor the methanol extracts, as well as there were no significant effect on the prostate or pancreatic cell lines for all crude extracts.

Conclusion: These results indicate the potency and product potential of the edible marine macroalgae as a functional food and nutraceutical. This report represents the first scientific bioassay of the Jamaican species of these algae.