Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Suppressive efficiency of Kojic acid from Aspergillus tamarii MM11 against HepG-2 cell line derived from human liver cancer

Mohammad M El-Metwally¹, Eman R ElBealy², Doha M Beltagy³, Mohamed Shaaban⁴, Attalla F El-kott^5,6

¹Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Damanhour University, Damanhour, Egypt; ²Biology Department, College of Science for girls, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia; ³Biochemistry Division, Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Damanhour University, Damanhour; ⁴Chemistry of Natural Compounds Department, Pharmaceutical and Drug Industries Research Division, National Research Centre, El-Behoos St., Dokki-Cairo 12622, Egypt; ⁵Department of Biology, College of Science, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia; ⁶Zoology Department, College of Science, Damanhour University, Damanhour, Egypt.

For correspondence:- Attalla El-kott Email: elkottaf@yahoo.com

Accepted: 20 July 2020 Published: 31 August 2020

Citation: El-Metwally MM, ElBealy ER, Beltagy DM, Shaaban M, El-kott AF. Suppressive efficiency of Kojic acid from Aspergillus tamarii MM11 against HepG-2 cell line derived from human liver cancer. Trop J Pharm Res 2020; 19(8):1661-1668 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v19i8.14

© 2020 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the antioxidant and cytotoxic properties of Kojic acid (KOJIC ACID) from Aspergillus tamarii MM11 against HepG-2 cell line derived from human liver cancer.

Methods: The crude extract of A. tamarii MM11 was dissolved in a mixture of CH₂Cl₂/MeOH (85:15) and separation was done using silica gel chromatography using gradient size exclusion chromatograph. The non-polar oily fractions were subjected to gas chromatography-mass spectrometric (GC-MS) analysis. Kojic acid structure was identified by x-beam crystallography and spectroscopic methods. Total antioxidant properties of KOJIC ACID were evaluated by using 1,1-diphenyl-2- picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) against ascorbic acid as a reference. The cytotoxic activity of KOJIC ACID from A. tamarii MM11 was investigated on the human cell line of liver cancer (HepG-2) using a sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay based on a cell density determination by the measurement of cellular protein content.

Result: Highly bioactive Kojic acid was isolated as the main product. A. tamarii MM11 Kojic acid showed good antioxidant activity with half-maximal inhibitory concentration of IC₅₀ at concentrations of 10.34 compared to 6.79 µg/mL for ascorbic acid. Kojic acid also showed good cytotoxic activity against HepG-2 cell line of human liver cancer with IC₅₀ at 6.20 compared to 3.25 µg/mL of reference drug doxorubicin.

Conclusion: Kojic acid produced naturally from A. tamarii MM11 shows good antioxidant and cytotoxic activity against HepG-2 cell line derived from human liver cancer. These findings suggest that Kojic acid can be therapeutically used as an antitumor drug after further in vivo studies.

Keywords: Aspergillus tamarii, Secondary metabolites, Kojic acid, Anticancer, Liver cancer