Liver breast cancer represents a major health problem worldwide. The present study evaluated the
anti-cancer properties of Shrimp derived chitosan on human liver (HepG-2) and breast cancer (MCF7)
cell lines. The cytotoxicity of chitosan was determined using MTT assay. Chitosan showed an anti-
proliferative and cytotoxic effect against (HEPG-2) and (MCF7) cancer cell lines in a dose and cell
type dependent manner. The IC50 value of chitosan was 600μg/ml and 348μg/ml for treated HepG-2
and MCF-7 respectively. Anticancer potential of chitosan was monitored via evaluation of cell cycle
profile and pro- and anti-apoptotic genes. Cell cycle arrest profile was cell type dependent and
occurred insignificantly (P>0.05) during S and G2-M phases in case of HepG2 cells, while it was
significantly elevated during G2-M phase in case of MCF-7 treatment. Treated cell lines showed a
significant apoptotic % during the Pre-G1 phase (P<0.05). ER and HER-2 as specific markers for
MCF-7 and BCL-2 in treated HEPG-2 cells were significantly down regulated (P<0.05), while, p53
was significantly up regulated (P<0.05).
