Anticancer and antiviral activities from some Tanzania fungal metabolites
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Date
2012
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University of Dar es Salaam
Abstract
This thesis describes anticancer and antiviral activities from some Tanzanian fungal metabolites. Nineteen fungal extracts including basidiomycetes, ascomycetes and zygomycetes were screened for the production of bioactive compounds using brine shrimp lethality test (BST) and free radical scavenging activity using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl α,α-diphenyl-β-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. Anticancer activities were tested for production of apoptotic compounds using flow cytometry in a panel of cancer cell lines while antiviral activities were tested through in ovo activities against infectious bursal disease virus and Pox virus. Unknown but potential fungi were identified through analysis of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequence. The BST assay revealed the Cantharellus symoensii being the most toxic with lethal dose that kill 50 % of the brine shrimp (LC50) 0.28 µg/ml while zygomycetes strain Z5 was the least toxic with LC50 32.9 µg/ml. The DPPH assay showed that a basidiomycetes Termitomyces microcarpus had the highest scavenging ability with effective concentration that decrease the initial DPPH radical by 50% (EC50) at 19µg/ml while the ascomycete Candida tropicalis showed the least EC50 at 60.4µg/ml. In the apopercentage apoptosis assay a basidomycete Cantharellus miomboensis extract at 2.5 mg/ml was able to induce apoptosis in ~80 % of HeLa cell lines and not in H157. The resistance of H157 cells to apoptosis induced by C. miomboensis extract was found to be associated with upregulation of glucose regulated protein 78 (GRP78) which validated by 40 % protection of grp78 transfected HeLa cells. The antiviral activities revealed that extracts from zygomycetes fungi were the most active, followed by basidiomycetes and ascomycetes. This study results infer that C. miomboensis have anticancer activity against HeLa cell line while some fungi have antiviral activity potentials for drug discovery research. This work has drawn attention to indigenous fungi from Tanzania as a potential source for anticancer and antiviral activities.
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Keywords
Fungal metabolites, Anticancer antibiotics, Antivirals, Fungi, Tanzania
Citation
Masalu, R. (2012).Anticancer and antiviral activities from some Tanzania fungal metabolites. Master dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam. Available at (http://41.86.178.3/internetserver3.1.2/detail.aspx)