Antiproliferative activity and phenolics of the Mediterranean seaweed Laurencia obusta

Cancer remains one of the most dreaded diseases causing an astonishingly high death rate, second only to cardiac arrest. The fact that conventional and newly emerging treatment procedures like chemotherapy, catalytic therapy, photodynamic therapy and radiotherapy have not succeeded in reverting the outcome of the disease to any drastic extent, has made researchers investigate alternative treatment options. In this paper we have tested the in vitro antiproliferative effects of methanol extract and its fractions from the Mediterranean seaweed Laurencia obusta using the MTT colorimetric assay and clonogenic inhibition. Among the series, the fraction F3 inhibited the growth and colony formation of the three cell lines studied in a concentration-related manner and these results were correlated with its total phenolic and flavonoid contents.