Lipidic compounds from the muscle of white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei): chemical structure and effect on the proliferation and morphology of human cancer cell lines

Cancer represents the second leading cause of death worldwide, therefore, the search for chemoprotective agents is on the rise. The muscle of white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) is one of the species analyzed as it has been reported as a source of compounds with antiproliferative activity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of shrimp muscle-isolated compounds on cell proliferation and morphology of human cancer cell lines. The muscle underwent a process of extraction and fractionation of compounds; their effect on cell viability assays (MTT) on lung adenocarcinoma (A549), prostate carcinoma (22 Rv-1), invasive breast adenocarcinoma (MDA MB 231), colon carcinoma (HTC 116), cervix adenocarcinoma (HeLa) and non-cancerous retinal cells (ARPE-19) was measured. Morphological changes were observed using fluorescence microscopy and chemical structure data was obtained using nuclear magnetic resonance. Fraction named C5 showed the highest antiproliferative activity on HCT-116 and MDA-MB-231, without significantly affecting the control cells. Subfractions C5-3 and C5-4 presented significant antiproliferative potential in MDA-MB-231; this cell line showed morphological changes that could be related to apoptosis, and spectroscopic analysis revealed the presence of b-carotene and eicosapentaenoic acid in C5, nevertheless, further studies are needed to determine the effect of each compound.