Anticancer effect of purified polysaccharide from marine clam Donax variabilis on A549 cells

The marine invertebrates are one of the main leads to the derivation of anticancer compounds. The present investigation was to explore the anticancer effect of a potentially active polysaccharide fraction from marine clam Donax variabilis on human lung cancer cells (A549). A polysaccharide was purified from the whole tissue of D. variabilis by GFC and characterized by FT-IR and NMR spectroscopy. Subsequently, fraction 2.1 (F2.1) showed a significant inhibitory effect on A549 cells (p < .001) with cellular, nuclear, and apoptotic morphological changes along with DNA damage. Although, F2.1 treatment exhibit the cell cycle arrest in S-phase through the downregulation of cell cycle regulators such as Cyclin A and cdk2 and regulate ROS-induced mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis in A549 cells by an increased level of proapoptotic molecules such as Bax, Cyt-c, Cleaved caspase-3 and 9, and decreased the level of Bcl-2. All data were statistically evaluated by one-way ANOVA and a post hoc analysis with Dunnett testing. Together, purified polysaccharide fraction from marine clam could be a new source of the natural anticancer agent against lung cancer. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Over the decades, a lot of anticancer drugs were designed from plant sources for therapies against various diseases. This was an attempt to isolate a novel anticancer agent from animal sources. Most of the marine mollusks are nutritionally rich and with some potent bioactive compounds. Donax variabilis is an edible marine clam, which was consumed as food among people where live in coastal regions. In the present investigation, the D. variabilis was chosen to isolate active polysaccharide fraction against lung cancer cells. Based on our findings, the purified polysaccharide fraction may be utilized as sources of natural bioactive agents in cancer prevention.