Bioinformatics online support for bioactive substances cytotoxicity testing and their statistical analysis

Abstract

Preclinical in vitro/in vivo testing is the first step in discovery of anticancer medicines, among others evaluation of cytotoxic activity of bioactive substances (BAS) on various human normal and cancer cell lines. Cytotoxicity expressed as IC50 value (a dose that inhibits 50% of cell growth) is one of the most commonly used parameter for comparable analysis of activity between different substances. This study includes examination of number of BAS and their results for cytotoxic activity obtained in the Laboratory for cell and molecular biology (LCMB) that require various statistical and computational techniques for proper effective analysis. In order to improve experimental data analysis, make it faster, more effective, error proof with secure online data repository, a Web application with LCMB IC50 database was developed as a useful research tool acting as a leverage for scientific data processing requirements. Analysis includes cytotoxic effects of chemical and natural BAS (IC50 values) on HCT-116, SW-480, MDA-MB-231, and MRC-5 cell lines. Generally, it can be concluded that BAS of different origin, chemical or natural, have various cytotoxic effects and cause different cell line sensitivity, which is presented and discussed. This paper presents developed SQL database-centric Web application with remote user-friendly data management for a biology researcher user type profile. Data processing in this article can be useful for a further overlook and testing of cytotoxic substances.