The effect of boric acid on tyrosinase activity in melanoma cell lines

Malignant melanoma; It is a malignant tumor of melanin-producing melanocyte cells originating from the neural crest, which determines skin, eye and hair color, and is a cancer type with a rapidly increasing incidence and high mortality.The enzyme tyrosinase (EC.1.14.18.1) is the enzyme responsible for the formation of melanin in melanocytes, and its activity has been shown to be increased in melanoma cancer. The enzyme tyrosinase has been used for years as a biomarker in the diagnosis of melanoma. The finding that cells enter the apoptosis pathway by inhibiting the activity of the tyrosinase enzyme in melanoma cells by inhibitors of the tyrosinase enzyme brought an extremely important approach to the treatment of melanoma. Boric acid (BA, H3BO3) is known to cause oxidative stress, inhibition of cell growth, apoptosis, and changes in cell morphology in cancer cell lines. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of BA on tyrosinase enzyme activity in SK-MELL -30 and WM115 melanoma cell lines. In our study, boric acid was applied to SK-MELL -30 and WM115 cell lines at 6 different concentrations between 2.5-250 mM. It was used as a substrate of the enzyme L DOPA tyrosinase. Tyrosinase enzyme activity was determined spectrophotometrically at a wavelength of 475 nm. When comparing the use of BA with kojic acid (KA), the best known inhibitor of the tyrosinase enzyme, there was significant inhibition in cell line WM115 (p=0.046), but no significant result in cell line SK-MELL -30 (p=0.085). The use of analytical methods to comprehensively elucidate the inhibition mechanisms of the use of BA on the enzyme tyrosinase and the elucidation of the mechanisms were the goal of our next experimental studies.