(190t) GGL: A Natural Pharmaceutical Molecule for the Treatment of Breast Cancer

Glycoglycerolipids (GGLs) are natural products abundantly found in the cell membrane of marine algae, cyanobacteria, and higher plants, with one or two carbohydrate units, glycerol, and diversified acyl lipid groups. GGLs are conserved in both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, i.e., Bacillus pumilus, Lactobacillus plantarum, Microbacterium sp., Micrococcus luteus, and Phormidium tenue with highly conserved structures. The amphiphilic nature of GGLs is attractive in pharmaceutical fields for interaction with other biological molecules and hence exerting therapeutic anti-cancer, anti-viral, and anti-inflammatory activities. In this study, we investigated the therapeutic efficacy of novel GGLs to inhibit breast cancer cells. GGLs were extracted using the established total lipid extraction method and subsequent fractionation and phase chromatographic techniques. The molecular structure of GGLs was confirmed by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy analysis. The anticancer activity of the extracted glycoglycerolipid was tested against the MDA-MB -231 breast cancer cell line. The primary phase of the in vitro study showed that GGLs potently inhibit cancer cells. Further studies are ongoing to understand the mechanisms of inhibitory activities of GGLs. The high potential of GGL therapy strategy has attracted great interests in recent years not only for the cure of cancer but also other diseases such as HIV.