Investigating the anti-proliferative
properties and their mechanism(s) of action
of marine derived glycosaminoglycans from
two marine sources

Green, M

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the chemotherapeutic properties of marine derived glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) and investigate their mechanism(s) of action. The secondary purpose was to investigate differences between the already studied cockle derived GAGs and prawn derived GAGs. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was employed to identify differences between the prawn and cockle derived GAGs. External monosaccharide and disaccharide analysis was also performed on the prawn GAGs. The MTT assay was employed to also investigate the chemotherapeutic differences between the two derived GAGs on K562 cancer cells. Furthermore, the MTT assay was employed to investigate the chemotherapeutic properties of the prawn derived GAGs on healthy and cancer cell lines other than K562. The final aspect of this investigation was using affinity chromatography to separate the cellular proteins that bind to the GAGs and to
isolate and visualise them using sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE).
The NMR spectroscopy showed the prawn extract to be a less complex extract than the cockle derived GAGs. The prawn GAGs also had an additional hydrogen environment at 2.5-3.0 ppm which could be of interest. The MTT assays showed that on K562 cells, cockle derived GAGs had an IC50 2.2 times lower than the prawn
derived GAGs but both were both chemotherapeutic. The MTT investigation of the small sample size of cells overall insinuated a trend of GAGs being more cytotoxic towards cancer cells than healthy cells. Finally, on the SDS-PAGE gel, two individual
bands of highly specific binding proteins to the GAGs were isolated between 2- 10kDa.

To conclude, further investigations on prawn derived GAGs should be undertaken as they show potential to be a successful chemotherapeutic. Also, successful isolation
of high specific binding proteins provide a base for an in-depth investigation into the mechanism(s) of action of the marine derived GAG(s).

Citation

two marine sources. (Dissertation). University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Dissertation
• Deposit Date: Jul 8, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 8, 2020
• Award Date: Jan 1, 2020