Mozhgan Soltani - Department of Biology, Mashhad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran
Javad Baharara - Research Center for Animal Development Applied Biology&Department of Biology, Mashhad Branch, Islamic Azad University,Mashhad, Iran
Farideh Namvar - Research Center for Animal Development Applied Biology&Department of Biology, Mashhad Branch, Islamic Azad University,Mashhad, Iran

Saponins are secondary metabolites with triterpene structure that first were identified inplants and later their existence was confirmed in some marine animals including seacucumbers. These compounds have a wide spectrum of pharmaceutical and health effects.This study was conducted to evaluate the cytotoxicity and anti-inflammatory effects ofHolothuria leucospilota sea cucumber saponin on Human lung adenocarcinoma epithelialcell line (A549). The A549 cells were cultured, seeded and exposed with differentconcentrations of saponin (0.12, 0.25, 0. 5 and 1 Âμg/ml). Evaluation of antiproliferative effectof saponin against cancer cells was performed by MTT procedure after 24, 48 and 72 h oftreatment. Alterations in the expression level of IL-1β were assessed after 48 h of treatment.For this purpose, total RNA was extracted and cDNA was synthesized by appropriate kitsand the expression level of IL-1β were evaluated by Real-time- PCR assay. MTT assayshowed that the cell growth was inhibited by increasing the concentration of saponin. IC50for 24, 48 and 72 h were about 0.7, 0.5 and 0.4 Âμg/ml respectively. The Real-time- PCRanalysis showed that the expression of IL-1β was reduced as a pro-inflammatory genes. Theexpression of this gene was reduced from 6.56 in untreated cells to 1.48 in treated cells with1 Âμg/ml of saponin. Taken together, this summary offers evidences for the antiproliferativeand anti-inflammatory properties of saponin derived sea cucumber and suggests that saponincan be used as an anticancer and anti-inflammatory agent.

Sea Cucumber, Holothuria Leucospilota, Cytotoxicity, Real Time PCR, Anti-Inflammation