Background and Aim: The use of natural compounds derived from plants and animals play important roles in disease therapy. Chronic myeloid leukemia is a blood cancer that can occur in multipotent stem cells. The K562 cell line is considered a cancer type for the study of chronic myeloid leukemia. The aim of this study was to investigate the anti-proliferative effects of red alga extract of Laurencia caspica on the K562 cell line.
Methods: This experimental study was performed in two separate phases. In the first phase, samples of the Laurencia caspica red algae were gathered from the coast of the Caspian Sea, Iran. Then, hydroalcoholic extraction of the mentioned algae was performed using a rotary evaporator and dry oven. The second phase involved treating the K562 cancer cells with different concentrations of algae extract (25, 50, 100, 200, 400 and 800 μg/ml). The anti-proliferative and cell cytotoxic properties of the algae extract were evaluated by MTT and apoptosis. In all analysis tests, p <0.05 was considered a significant level.
Results: The results of the MTT assay showed that the extract of Laurencia caspica red algae in the 800 and 200 μg/ml concentrations had the highest and the lowest anti-proliferative effects on cancer cells, respectively. The results of the apoptosis test showed that concentrations of 800 and 200 μg/ml of algae extract had the lowest and the highest survival of cancer cells, respectively. The effectiveness of extract of Laurencia caspica red algae was concentration-dependent which inhibited the growth and proliferation of the K562 cancer cells in all tests.
Conclusion: Regarding the results of this study, extract of Laurencia caspica red alga may be used as a natural compound in cancer treatment. However, further studies are required.