strong cytotoxicity while yellow Monascus pigments and red
Monascus pigment derivates exhibit nearly no cytotoxicity [11].
The cytotoxicity of orange Monascus pigments may be attributed
to the non-selective aminophilic reaction between orange
Monascus pigments and amino-group-containing compounds of
cell components, such as amino acids, proteins, and nucleic acids
[1,9,10]. On the contrary, the yellow Monascus pigment ankaflavin
shows selective cytotoxicity to cancer cell lines, and has nearly no
cytotoxicity on normal fibroblasts. The structural analogue, yellow
Monascus pigment monascin, however, shows no cytotoxicity to all
the tested cell lines. The authors suggest that the cancer cell cytotoxicity
of ankaflavin should be attributed to apoptosis-related
mechanism [14].