Properties of surfactin C-15 nanopeptide and its cytotoxic effect on human cervix cancer (HeLa) cell line

Abstract

Surfactin is one of the most powerful biosurfactants that has been known so far. It is an acidic cyclic nonribosomal lipoheptapeptide that is produced by Bacillus subtilis. In this presentation we investigated different properties of surfactin C-15. The nanomicelle forming ability of surfactin C-15 in different aqueous environments with various ionic strengths was studied by scanning electron microscope. Surfactin second structure was investigated by Far-UV CD spectrum. Its hemolytic activity and cytotoxicity were measured by hemolysis and MTT assays, respectively. Surfactin formed spherical nanomicelles in distilled water (pH = 7.4) and amorphous nanomicelles in PBS buffer (pH = 7.4). The hemolysis assay results indicated that HC50 of surfactin was 47 M. Surfactin C-15 arrested growth of human cervix cancer HeLa cell line in a time- and dosage-dependent method, so that its IC50 at 16, 24, and 48h were 86.9, 73.1, and 50.2 M, respectively. © 2012 Zahra Nozhat et al.