Investigating the Cytotoxic Effects of Persian Gulf Marine Actinomycetes Protease on Blood Cancer Cell Line

Considering their specific adaption to marine milieus, marine actinomycetes constitute an excellent source for producing unique bioactive substances. They are also important sources of antibiotics and extracellular enzymes, geosmin, and enzymes with potent antibacterial and anticarcinogenic properties and low toxicity. The objective of this study is to isolate actinomycetes producing antitumor substances from the sediments of Hara forests in the Persian Gulf and investigate the positive in vitro effects of these microorganisms through protease production on blood cancer cell lines.
In this study, 30 samples of sediments were collected from Hara forests. After the strains were isolated, the samples were identified using morphologic characteristics. The protease was extracted and its cytocidal activity on the Aacute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) was studied.
The results indicate that out of the 30 actinomycetal isolates, 15 specimens were capable of producing protease, of which 2 affected the malignant cell line. In addition, statistical analysis revealed that the protease exerted greater cytocidal effect on the blood cancer cell line at higher concentrations. The cytopathic property of the protease was observed as cell rupture.
Our findings indicate that sediments of the Hara forests in the Persian Gulf are rich in active actinomycetes producing novel anticarcinogenic substances, warranting identification and purification. These results suggest the need for studies on marine microbes as a new potential for pharmaceutical research.