Effect of denaturing agents on a lectin isolated from marine sponge Axinella donnaniand its potential cytotoxic activity

Abstract

Marine sponges are oldest metazoans which were found to have structural and biologically diverse lectins. A lectin isolated from marine sponge Axinella donnani (ADL) were evaluated for its stability against denaturing agents such as Urea, Thiourea and Guanidine hydrochloride. Urea and Thiourea decreases the stability of ADL in higher concentration (5 mM) while Guanidine hydrochloride does not show any activity. Finally, cyt otoxicity of ADL at different concentrations (0.25 500 mg/mL) was tested against MCF 7, A431 and HeLa cell lines by MTT assay. ADL exhibited potential cytotoxicity against these cell lines after 24 hours in a dose dependent manner. Thus, ADL could be a pot ent cytotoxic agent in clinical applications.