Cytotoxic Potential of the Marine Diatom Thalassiosira rotula: Insights into Bioactivity of 24-Methylene Cholesterol

• DOI: 10.3390/md20100595
• Publication Date: 2022-09-26T05:41:58Z
• Authors: Adele Cutignano; Mariarosaria Conte; Virginia Tirino; Vitale Del Vecchio; Roberto De Angelis; Angela Nebbioso; Lucia Altucci; Giovanna Romano
• Keywords: Phytol; Phytosterol

Marine microalgae are receiving great interest as sustainable sources of bioactive metabolites for health, nutrition and personal care. In the present study, a bioassay-guided screening allowed identifying an enriched fraction from SPE separation methanolic extract marine diatom Thalassiosira rotula with chemically heterogeneous composition cytotoxic molecules, including PUFAs, terpene phytol, carotenoid fucoxanthin phytosterol 24-methylene cholesterol (24-MChol). particular, this latter was object deep investigation aimed to gain insight into mechanisms action activated in two tumour cell models recognised resistant chemical treatments, breast MCF7 lung A549 lines. The results our studies revealed that 24-MChol, line most studied β-sitosterol (β-SIT), showed activity 3-30 µM range concentration involving induction apoptosis cycle arrest, although differences emerged between sterols cancer systems when specific targets were investigated (caspase-3, caspase-9, FAS TRAIL).