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Updated: Feb 10, 2026

Detection and Isolation of Circulating Melanoma Cells using Photoacoustic Flowmetry
09:52

Detection and Isolation of Circulating Melanoma Cells using Photoacoustic Flowmetry

Published on: November 25, 2011

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Anticancer Activity of Euplotin C, Isolated from the Marine Ciliate Euplotes crassus, Against Human Melanoma Cells

Sara Carpi1, Beatrice Polini2, Giulio Poli3

  • 1Department of Pharmacy, University of Pisa, via Bonanno 6, 56126 Pisa, Italy. sara.carpi@unipi.it.

Marine Drugs
|May 19, 2018
PubMed

Insights

Euplotin C (EC) shows significant anti-melanoma activity, selectively killing cancer cells while sparing normal cells. This marine compound inhibits key pathways and targets the ryanodine receptor (RyR), offering a potential new treatment for melanoma.

Area of Science:

  • Marine Natural Products Chemistry
  • Cancer Biology
  • Pharmacology

Background:

  • Cutaneous melanoma is a severe skin cancer, necessitating the development of novel cytotoxic agents targeting new pathways.
  • Marine organisms are a rich source of unique bioactive compounds with therapeutic potential.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the anti-melanoma activity of Euplotin C (EC), a metabolite from Euplotes crassus.
  • To elucidate the mechanism of action of EC in human cutaneous melanoma cells.
  • To investigate EC's potential as a novel anti-melanoma therapeutic scaffold.

Main Methods:

  • Cytotoxicity assays on human melanoma cell lines (A375, 501Mel, MeWo) and normal human dermal fibroblasts (HDFa).
  • Assessment of pro-apoptotic effects and cell migration inhibition.
  • Analysis of Erk and Akt pathway inhibition, and interaction with ryanodine receptors (RyR) using molecular modeling and antagonism studies with dantrolene.

Main Results:

  • EC demonstrated potent cytotoxicity against melanoma cells, with approximately 30-fold higher potency compared to non-cancer cells.
  • EC induced apoptosis and reduced melanoma cell migration.
  • EC inhibited Erk and Akt signaling pathways; its cytotoxicity was antagonized by dantrolene, suggesting RyR as a potential direct target.

Conclusions:

  • Euplotin C exhibits significant selective anti-melanoma activity.
  • EC's mechanism involves apoptosis induction, migration inhibition, and modulation of Erk/Akt pathways, potentially via ryanodine receptor interaction.
  • EC represents a promising new scaffold for developing selective RyR activators for melanoma and other cancer treatments.
Keywords:
Euplotes crassuscutaneous melanomaeuplotin Cmarine drugprotistryanodine receptorsesquiterpenoid

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