Evaluation of the Role of Spirulina (Arthrospira sp.) Against Induced Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Albino Mice

Abstract

Cancers are the main cause of mortality and health problem worldwide, and liver cancer (HCC) is one of the most common. It accounting for 75% of all liver cancers. HCC is the 6th most common cancer worldwide. Although some chemotherapeutic drugs are effective, their intolerable adverse effects and high cost are still major obstacles for effective treatment. This encouraged effort to discover and develop natural products originated drugs for treating cancer with fewer side effects, high therapeutic efficacy, and better patients’ compliance in comparison with chemical drugs. Recent studies have shown that natural medicines have pleiotropic effects, such as anti-viral, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activities. Some herbal drugs are also designed to cure HCC. Spirulina are multicellular, filamentous and spiral blue - green alga that has gained considerable popularity in the health food industry and increasingly as a protein and vitamin supplement to aquaculture diets. It grows in alkaline water, harvested and processed easily and has very high macro- and micro-nutrient contents. The present study demonstrated that spirulina had Hepatoprotective effect against oxida¬tive liver injury. Previous studies demonstrated that Spirulina possess potent free radical scavenging and antioxidant activities. From the results, it is evident that Spirulina is capable of modulating the levels of MDA, AFP and significantly increases the endogenous antioxidant defense mechanisms in case of DENA-induced carcinogenesis. Other studies evaluating that spirulina regulate apoptosis by increased expression of the genome guardian p53, also showed that the proapoptotic Bax, was up regulated, while the antiapoptotic Bcl2 was down regulated, leading to regulated cell death. These observations may direct our attentions towards the possibility that