The pyridoacridine alkaloids kuanoniamines A and C were isolated together with 24 alpha-methylcholestanol, p-hydroxybenzaldehyde, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, phenylacetic acid and 3-formylindole from the ethyl acetate extract of the marine sponge Oceanapia sagittaria (Sollas), collected from the Gulf of Thailand. Kuanoniamines A and C were evaluated for their effect on the growth of five human tumour and a non-tumour cell lines, as well as on the proliferation of human lymphocytes. Kuanoniamine A was found to be a potent growth inhibitor of all the tumour and a non-tumour cell lines while kuanoniamine C was less potent but showed high selectivity toward the estrogen dependent (ER+) breast cancer cell line. Kuanoniamine A has shown to be a more potent inhibitor of DNA synthesis than kuanoniamine C. Kuanoniamine A was also found to cause an extensive reduction of the MCF-7 cells in G2/M phase as well as an increase in the apoptotic cells.
Keywords: Oceanapia sagittaria; anti-proliferation of human lymphocytes; anticancer activity; apoptosis; cell cycle progression; kuanoniamines A and C.