Browsing by Author "Alves, Ricardo"
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- Anticancer potential of spores of the soil fungus Pisolithus tinctoriusPublication . Oliveira, Rui S.; Alves, Ricardo; Preto, Marco; Martins, RosárioCancer is one of the major causes of death worldwide being the search for new anticancer drugs essential for the treatment of this disease. The sporocarps of the soil fungus Pisolithus tinctorius contain pisosterol, a triterpene that has been shown to have antitumor activity against some cancer cell lines. Nevertheless, no studies have focused on the anticancer potential of other structures such as spores, and so the anticancer potential of P. tinctorius, remains largely unknown. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of P. tinctorius spores as a source of anticancer compounds.
- Cytotoxicity Induced by Extracts of Pisolithus tinctorius Spores on Human Cancer and Normal Cell Lines—Evaluation of the Anticancer PotentialPublication . Alves, Ricardo; Preto, Marco; Vasconcelos, Vítor; Oliveira, Rui S.; Martins, RosarioFungi have been considered a potential source of natural anticancer drugs. However, studies on these organisms have mainly focused on compounds present in the sporocarp and mycelium. The aim of this study was to assess the anticancer potential of fungal spores using a bioassay-guided fractionation with cancer and normal cell lines. Crude extracts from spores of the basidiomycetous fungus Pisolithus tinctorius were prepared using five solvents/solvent mixtures in order to select the most effective crude extraction procedure. A dichloromethane/methanol (DCM/MeOH) mixture was found to produce the highest extraction yield, and this extract was fractionated into 11 fractions. Crude extracts and fractions were assayed for cytotoxicity in the human osteocarcinoma cell line MG63, the human breast carcinoma cell line T47D, the human colon adenocarcinoma cell line RKO, and the normal human brain capillary endothelial cell line hCMEC/D3. Cytotoxicity was assessed by the 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) reduction assay. The results showed a reduction in cancer cell viability of approximately 95% with 4 of 11 fractions without a significant reduction in viability of hCMEC/D3 cells. Data demonstrated that spores of P. tinctorius might serve as an interesting source of compounds with potential anticancer properties.
- Cytotoxicity of the soil fungus Pisolithus tinctorius spores against cancer cells – a potential source of anticancer drugsPublication . Alves, Ricardo; Fernandes, João; Preto, Marco; Oliveira, Rui S.; Martins, RosarioCancer is one of the major causes of death worldwide being the search for new anticancer drugs essential for the treatment of this disease. The sporocarps of the soil fungus Pisolithus tinctorius contain pisosterol, a triterpene that has been shown to have antitumor activity against some cancer cell lines. Nevertheless, no studies have focused on the anticancer potential of other structures such as spores, and so the anticancer potential of P. tinctorius, remains largely unknown.
- Cytotoxity induced by extracts of Pisolithustinctorius spores on human cancer and normal cell lines – evaluation of the anticancer potentialPublication . Alves, Ricardo; Preto, Marco; Oliveira, Rui S.; Martins, RosárioCancer is one of the most important causes of death and morbidity worldwide. According to the World Health Organization 8.2 million people have died from cancer in 2012. The treatment of this fast growing disease is regarded as a major challenge in health for the XXI century. Conventional anti-cancer therapy is usually aggressive to the patients due to systemic toxicity caused by lack of specificity of the chemotherapy drugs (Kidd, 2000). This has triggered the interest of the scientific community to search for new and more effective therapies, less aggressive than conventional treatments. Used since antiquity in oriental civilizations, fungi, in particular mushrooms have been shown to limit or reverse tumor growth (Kidd, 2000). Pisolithustinctorius (Basidiomycota) is a soil fungus with world-wide distribution that it known to form ectomycorrhizal symbioses in forest ecosystems (Kope & Fortin, 1990). The sporocarps of this fungus contain Pisosterol, a triterpene that has been shown to have antitumor activity against some cancer cell lines (Montenegro et al., 2004). Nevertheless, no studies have focused on the anticancer potential of other structures such as spores and thus the anticancer potential of P. tinctorius , remains largely unknown.