Ocean bioprospecting: preliminary investigation of metabolites profile and cytotoxic activity of soft coral Sarcophyton sp. extracts

Secondary metabolites extracted from soft corals have been extensively studied for their potential pharmacological properties of interest to human health especially in relation to their possible cytotoxic effect against different cancer cell lines. However, the comparison between the viability study on the cancer cell lines and on the healthy cells of the same tissue remains to be further investigated. In this work, the soft coral Sarcophyton sp. was extracted by using ethyl acetate and dichloromethane solvents. Moreover, further purification by column chromatography of the ethyl acetate extract led to three fractions and the metabolites profile was determined by applying a multi-analytical approach based on mass spectrometry and by comparison with reference data from the current literature. By MTT assay was found that ethyl acetate and dichloromethane crude extracts caused a reduction in viability of human colorectal cancer (CRC) cell lines SW480 and E705, while were only weakly active against human healthy mucosa cell line CCD841. Furthermore, fraction 2 and fraction 3 displayed cytotoxicity against CRC cell lines while showed a lower effect towards CCD841. This study provides a better understanding of the chemical nature of Sarcophyton sp. and indicates a promising fraction which represents an excellent starting point for further work on the isolation, structural characterization, and biochemical investigation of new compounds with a potential anticancer effect. In addition, the future aim will be to extend the study to other soft corals genera as well as other marine organisms.