assessment of the inhibitory effects of ficin-hydrolyzed gelatin derived from squid (uroteuthis duvauceli) on breast cancer cell lines and animal model

Marine novel natural products have been applied for cancer therapy. enzyme-digested gelatin hydrolysates have proven to serve as promising sources of potent biologically active peptides. potential anti-breast cancer properties of the extracted ficin-digesterd gelatin hydrolysate from indian squid (uroteuthis duvauceli) was extensively characterized by cellular and animal models. gelatin was extracted from squid skin, hydrolyzed by ficin, and characterized by standard physico-chemical methods. ficin-digested gelatin hydrolysate was used at various doses of 0-0.1 mg/ml for assessment of mcf-7 and mda-mb-231 breast cancer cells versus huvec normal cells. cytotoxicity, phase-contrast morphological examination, apoptosis/necrosis, clonal-growth, cell-migration, matrix-metalloproteinases (mmps) zymography, and western blotting were used for cellular assessments. for animal studies, breast tumor-induced balb/c mice received hydrolyzed gelatin regimen, followed by tumor size/growth and immune-histochemical analyses. significant inhibition of mcf-7 and mda-mb-231 with no cytotoxicity on huvec cells were detected. apoptosis was increased in cancer cells, as revealed by elevated ratio of cleaved caspase-3 and parp. mmp-2 and mmp-9 activities in both cancer cells were diminished. in mice, gelatin hydrolysate prevented weight loss, decreased tumor size, induced p53, and down-regulated ki67 levels. these findings suggest that ficin-digested gelatin hydrolysate could be a beneficial candidate for novel breast cancer therapies.