Table 3.
Cytotoxicities of microalgal extracts and antiviral drugs and their effects on cell-free EBV DNA load in Akata, B95-8, and P3HR-1 cells
| Cell line | Microalgal extract/drug | IC50a (μg/ml) | EC50b (μg/ml) | Therapeutic indexc |
| Akata | Ankistrodesmus convolutus | 184.0±36.8 | 8.180±1.476 | 23 |
| Synechococcus elongatus | 190.0±14.1 | >20 | <10 | |
| Spirulina platensis | 89.0±1.4 | >20 | <4.5 | |
| Acyclovir | >200 | 1.190±0.809 | >168 | |
| Foscarnet | >200 | 0.690±0.085 | >290 | |
| B95-8 | Ankistrodesmus convolutus | 78.0±4.2 | 0.313±0.319 | 249 |
| Synechococcus elongatus | 116.5±6.3 | 0.021±0.026 | 5548 | |
| Spirulina platensis | 166.0±2.2 | 0.021±0.013 | 7905 | |
| Acyclovir | >200 | >20 | NDd | |
| Foscarnet | >200 | 0.900±0.081 | >222 | |
| P3HR-1 | Ankistrodesmus convolutus | >200 | 0.006±0.001 | >33333 |
| Synechococcus elongatus | >200 | 0.007±0.002 | >28571 | |
| Spirulina platensis | >200 | 13.750±4.052 | >15 | |
| Acyclovir | >200 | 0.114±0.058 | >1754 | |
| Foscarnet | >200 | 0.788±0.085 | >254 | |
a
IC50 is the cytotoxic concentration of the compound that decreased cell viability to 50% of untreated cells determined by MTT assay. Results represent means±SD of two independent experiments performed in duplicate
b
EC50 is the effective concentration of the compound needed to inhibit EBV genome copy numbers by 50% relative to the negative control. Results represent means±SD of two independent experiments performed in duplicate
c
Therapeutic index refers to the ratio of IC50 to EC50
d
ND: not determined