Green algae Caulerpa racemosa inhibit proliferation and promote apoptosis in human HT-29 colon cancer by suppressing PI3K/AKT pathway

Introduction: Colon cancer is a malignancy of the gastrointestinal which is one of the most common causes of death worldwide. Tumorigenesis involved oncologic pathway such as PI3K/AKT as the common pathway with the challenges is therapy resistance. Therefore, an alternative colon cancer treatments is needed that comes from biological resources such as sea grapes. Objective: This study aims to determine anticancer potency of hexane extract from sea grapes (Caulerpa racemosa) on HT-29 cell line colon cancer based on suppressing PI3K/AKT pathway. Method: The study was conducted in vitro using the extract of Caulerpa racemosa at concentrations of (0, 400, 800, and 1.200) µg/mL on the HT-29 cell line based on the level expression of p-akt related to PI3K/AKT pathway, cleaved caspase 3 related to apoptosis, and viable cells related to proliferation. Results: The research results was found that the hexane extract of Caulerpa racemosa decreased the expression level of p-akt (Kruskal wallis, p=0,027), increased the cleaved caspase 3 (Kruskal wallis, p=0,016), and decreased the viable cells (Kruskal wallis, 24 and 48 hours: p=0,024 and 0,034). Conclusion: Caulerpa racemosa hexane extract can inhibit colon cancer cells growth by suppressing PI3K/AKT pathway based on inhibition proliferation and induce apoptosis.