Cyanobacterial Natural Products As Anticancer and Antiviral agents

Finding new natural alternative drugs for cancer and virus-based infections is the chief purpose of this study as cancer and viral diseases kill millions of humans every year. In general, the present work represents integrated research investigating crude extracts of five filamentous cyanobacterial Egyptian isolates for anticancer and antiviral activity. Five filamentous cyanobacteria were isolated from different localities of Egyptian environments. According to morphological and molecular identification, four of the five isolates were non-heterocyst organisms and identified as Arthrospira platensis, Leptolyngbya boryana, Leptolyngbya sp, and Oscillatoria sp, only one isolate was a heterocyst filamentous species namely, Nostoc punctiforme. The crude extracts of the isolated cyanobacteria were assessed for in vitro anticancer activity against Hep-G2 (hepatocellular carcinoma cell line) and MCF-7 (Breast adenocarcinoma cell line). The antiviral activity of the crude extracts was assessed also in vitro against Rotavirus (RV) and Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) using MTT technique.