SPONGE-ASSOCIATED FUNGI ISOLATES FROM ANCORINA SP. SHOWED ANTI-CANCER ACTIVITY AGAINST HELA CELL LINES

Abstract

Nowadays, natural products from marine life, especially sponge-associated fungi (SAF), have been getting extensive attention as candidates for anti-cancer agents. Although chemotherapy has been widely used as one of the cancer treatments, recently, multidrug resistance as one of its drawbacks has appeared. Our preliminary research successfully isolated 16 fungi isolates from Ancorina sp. habituating Kukup (KU) Beach, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The ethyl acetate extracts of SAF KU4 fungi grown in enrichment broth media in seawater base either as media-free mycelium or whole medium were analyzed for the cytotoxicity level and the apoptotic effect on the apoptotic effect cervical cancer cell line (HeLa). SAF KU4 was cultured in Wickerham sea-based media and then extracted using ethyl acetate. The IC₅₀ values were measured by MTT assay. IC₅₀ of the media-free extract and whole extract were 158.13 and 283.95 µg/mL, respectively. Ethyl acetate extracts of media-free mycelium and whole extract were moderately cytotoxic but could induce apoptosis in HeLa cell lines.