Dipteran Carboxymethyl Chitosan as an Inexhaustible Derivative with a Potential Antiproliferative Activity in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells

Rana M Abdel Rahman; Hedayat Abdel Ghaffar; Afrah F Alkhuriji; Mahmoud I Khalil; Noha Amaly; Attalla F El-Kott; Ahmed S Sultan

doi:10.1155/2020/4396305

Dipteran Carboxymethyl Chitosan as an Inexhaustible Derivative with a Potential Antiproliferative Activity in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells

Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2020 Sep 28:2020:4396305. doi: 10.1155/2020/4396305. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Rana M Abdel Rahman¹, Hedayat Abdel Ghaffar², Afrah F Alkhuriji³, Mahmoud I Khalil^{4

5}, Noha Amaly⁶, Attalla F El-Kott^{1

7}, Ahmed S Sultan⁸

Affiliations

¹ Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Damanhour University, Damanhour, Egypt.
² Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
³ Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Beirut Arab University, Lebanon.
⁵ Molecular Biology Unit, Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
⁶ Polymeric Materials Research Department, Advanced Technology and New Materials Research Institute (ATNMRI), City of Scientific Research and Technological Applications (SRTA-City), Alexandria, Egypt.
⁷ Biology Department, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.

Abstract

Traditional folk therapies indicate that insects have diverse medicinal potentials. However, the therapeutic application of insect chitosan and its derivatives has not been explored. To investigate the application of chitosan and its derivatives, the carboxymethyl derivative of chitosan (CM-Ch) was extracted from two dipteran larvae species, Chrysomya albiceps and Sarcophaga aegyptiaca. The degree of deacetylation (DD) and CM-Ch functional groups were validated using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analysis and proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H NMR), respectively. The molecular weight was estimated using MALDI-TOF MS analysis. The effect of CM-Ch on the morphology and proliferation of human liver HepG2 cancer cells was assessed. IC₅₀ of CM-Ch induced significant growth-inhibitory effects in HepG2 cells. CM-Ch treatment altered the morphology of HepG2 in a dose-dependent manner and induced apoptosis in a caspase-dependent manner. CM-Ch treatment showed no signs of toxicity, and no alterations in liver and kidney biochemical markers were observed in albino rats. A CM-Ch derivative from commercial crustacean chitosan was used to assess the efficacy of the insect-derived CM-Ch. The data presented here introduce insect CM-Ch as a promising, inexhaustible, safe derivative of chitosan with antitumor potential in liver cancer. This is the first report highlighting the anticancer activity of insect CM-Ch in hepatocellular carcinoma cells.