The effect of the methanolic extract of Enteromorpha intestinalis green macroalga on the HL-60 leukaemia cell line

Abstract

Current anti-cancer drugs can cause many undesirable side effects to patients. Thus, there is a constant need to develop alternative therapeutic drugs. Various organisms have been found to be rich sources of potent bioactive compounds such as Algae, Sponges, Toxic Fish, and invertebrates to name a few. This is an evolving area of research which hopes to isolate natural extracts to combat cancer in humans and deviate from the use of synthetic medications which cause resistance, and significant toxicity to patients. This study aims to build on the research of others who hope to isolate bioactive compounds for use in anticancer drug development. For this study, a green macroalga Enteromorpha intestinalis was collected, and a crude methanolic extract was produced from it. The anti-cancer effect against the human acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) HL-60 cell line was then tested using the MTT, NBT, and cell viability assays. It was found that the extract had a selective cytotoxic effect against the HL-60 cell line compared to activated lymphocytes. This is the first study showing cytotoxic effects of E. intestinalis against the HL-60 cell line.