C–PHYCOCYANIN MODULATES THE CYTOTOXICITY OF PLATINUM BASED ANTICANCER DRUGS IN LUNG CANCER CELL LINES

Shalmoli Bhattacharyya; Vikas Sharma

Volume : V, Issue : II, February - 2016

C–PHYCOCYANIN MODULATES THE CYTOTOXICITY OF PLATINUM BASED ANTICANCER DRUGS IN LUNG CANCER CELL LINES

Shalmoli Bhattacharyya, Vikas Sharma

Abstract :

The present study has been designed to elucidate the effect of supplementation of C–phycocyanin, a phycobiliprotein present in Spirulina platensis, on the chemotherapeutic potential of the anticancer drugs, cisplatin, carboplatin and oxaliplatin in Type–I (WI–26) and Type–II (A549) lung adenocarcinoma epithelial cells. Our results showed that c–phycocyanin supplementation were effective in enhancing the cytotoxicity when given with carboplatin/ cisplatin but not in case of oxaliplatin. These results were confirmed by ultra–structural changes like cell shrinkage and loss of memane integrity that are some of the characteristics of cells undergoing apoptosis. Increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) and PI–Annexin staining was found when c–phycocyanin was given alongwith the anticancer drugs in A–549 cells. In WI–26 cells, the co–administration of c–Phycocyanin was observed to cause significant increase in cytotoxicity only with cisplatin. Thus, our results show that the algal protein, c–phycocyanin increased the efficacy of the chemotherapeutic drugs in a selective manner.