In vitro cytotoxic activity of Laurencia papillosa, marine red algae from the Lebanese coast

Abstract

Marine algae are an excellent source of bioactive compounds with a variety of biological activities. This paper presents a study on the cytotoxic activity of Laurencia papillosa (Rhodomelaceae), marine red algae collected at the Lebanese coast against the human cancer cell line Jurkat (acute lymphoblastic leukemia) through the trypan blue exclusion assay. The results show that the percentage of cell viability was reduced by increasing the concentration of both algal extracts: ethanol/ water extract, and ethanol/ chloroform extract. The ethanol/ chloroform extract exhibits the highest levels of cytotoxicity with IC50 value of 57.77 μg/ mL against Jurkat cancer cell line especially after 72 hours of treatment compared with the ethanol/water extract with IC50 value of 121.642 μg/ mL. Further research should be explored in order to study the bioactive compounds of Laurencia papillosa that could be potentially useful therapeutic agents for patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.