Inhibition of metastatic lung cancer in C57BL/6 mice by marine mangrove Rhizophora apiculata.

Metastasis is one of the hallmarks of malignant neoplasms and is the leading cause of death in many cancer patients. A major challenge in cancer treatment is to find better ways to specifically target tumor metastasis. In this study, the anti-metastatic potential of the methanolic extract of Rhizophora apiculata (R.apiculata) was evaluated using the B16F-10 melanoma induced lung metastasis model in C57BL/6 mice. Metastasis was induced in C57BL/6 mice by injecting highly metastatic B16F-10 melanoma cells through the lateral tail vein. Simultaneous treatment with R.apiculata extract (10 mg/kg b.wt (intraperitoneal) significantly (p<0.01) inhibited pulmonary tumor nodule formation (41.1 %) and also increased the life span (survival rate) 107.3 % of metastatic tumor bearing animals. The administration of R.apiculata extract significantly (p<0.01) reduced biochemical parameters such as lung collagen hydroxyproline, hexosamine, uronic acid content, serum nitric oxide (NO), γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) and sialic acid levels when compared to metastasis controls. These results correlated with lung histopathology analysis of R.apiculata extract treated mice showing reduction in lung metastasis and tumor masses. Taken together, our findings support that R.apiculata extract could be used as a potential anti-metastasis agent against lung cancer.