Anti-angiogenesis Effect of C-Phycocyanin of Spirulina platensis on B16-F10 Melanoma Tumors in C57BL/6 Mouse

Aims: Melanoma is one of the most dangerous forms of skin cancer, which is unresponsive to the current chemotherapy drugs. As a natural product purified from spirulina, phycocyanin can inhibit the angiogenesis. The aim of this study was to investigate the anti-angiogenesis effect of C-phycocyanin of spirulina platensis on B16-F10 melanoma tumors in C57BL/6 mouse.

In this experimental study, 16 C57BL/6 mice with the age range of 6-8 weeks were randomly divided into two groups, including control and phycocyanin groups. On the day 0 of the study, melanoma cells were injected and all the mice were treated for 20 days. Phycocyanin group received 40mg/kg phycocyanin every day. The tumors were extracted on the day 21 and the effect of phycocyanin on the angiogenesis and proliferation of cancer cells was investigated, using immunohistochemical staining with CD31 and Ki-67, respectively. The data were analyzed, using JMP 11 software by one way ANOVA test. Findings: In the phycocyanin group, angiogenesis was significantly lower than that of the control group (p<0.01), while the mitotic index was not significantly lower than that of the control group in the mice treated with phycocyanin.

Phycocyanin has ability to inhibit angiogenesis in the B16-F10 melanoma tumors in C57BL/6 mouse, but it is not able to reduce the proliferation of melanoma cells.