OBJECTIVETo investigate the antitumor effects of two kinds of bromophenols isolated from marine algae Rhodomela confervoides on three tumor cells of Hela, MGC and BGC-823 and their antitumor mechanism in vitro.

METHODMTT method was employed to assay the inhibitory effects of marine bromphenols with various concentrations. Flow cytometry (FCM) was used to study the cell cycle and aneuploid induction.

RESULTBoth of two bromophenols showed cytotoxic activities on the tested tumor cells. Hela cells were proved to be the most sensitive to the marine bromophenols. Although they couldn't cause apoptosis of the tumor cells, the aneuploid and cell cycle inhibition were detected. For Hela and MGC cells, hypoploid was observed under low drug concentrations, while G1 phase block was caused by higher drug concentrations. For BGC-823 cells, G1 phase inhibition was observed for different drug concentrations, and the inhibitiory effect showed dose-dependent.

CONCLUSIONMarine bromophenol can inhibit the proliferation of three tumor cells, and the mechanism was probably aneuploid induction and cell cycle inhibition.

Antineoplastic Agents ; pharmacology ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Cell Cycle ; drug effects ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Humans ; Phenols ; pharmacology ; Rhodophyta ; chemistry