Bioremoval and Detoxification of the Anticancer Drug Mitoxantrone Using Immobilized Crude Versatile Peroxidase (icVP/Ba) Bjerkandera adusta CCBAS 930

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The study presents relevant research in the fields of environmental microbiology, waste manage-ment and toxicology. Industrial pollutants released into the environment, and climate change are causing significant deterioration of water quality. Oxidoreductases, synthesized during secondary metabolism by white-rot fungi have been applied in many industries, and are particularly frequently used for soil and water environment bioremediation and xenobiotic biodegradation. Immobilization methods are applied to improve the stability and recyclability of the biocatalyst compared to the free enzyme. Immobilization, mainly enzyme immobilization, reduces the number of processing steps due to the easy separation of the biocatalyst itself from its reaction mixture, retention of catalytic activity, and the resulting high degree of reusability and reduction of application costs. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the possibility of bioremoval of the anticancer drug mitoxan-trone (MTX) by immobilized crude versatile peroxidase (cVP/Ba) synthesized by B. adusta CCBAS 930. Since biological methods should be characterized not only by efficient biodegradation of xe-nobiotics, but also by a reduction of their toxicity, phyto-, bio-, and genotoxicity, assays were applied to assess the detoxification of mitoxantrone by immobilized cVP/Ba. ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to evaluate the biodecolorization and detoxification of the anticancer drug mitoxantron (MTX) by immobilized crude versatile peroxidase of Bjerkandera adusta CCBAS 930 (icVP/Ba). The concentrated crude VP was obtained from B. adusta CCBAS 930 culture on medium with MTX (µg/mL) addition, immobilized with 4% sodium alginate. MTX removal degree (decolorization), levels of phenolic compounds and free radicals were determined during MTX biotransformation. Moreover, the phytotoxicity (Lepidium sativum L.), biotoxicity (multi-species microbial assay, MARA), and genotoxicity (SOS Chromotest) of MTX were evaluated before and after the biological treatment. The use of icVP/Ba (95 U/mL) significantly shortened the bioremoval of 10 µg/mL MTX (95.57% after 72 h). MTX removal by icVP/Ba was correlated with an 85% and 90% decrease in the levels of phenolic compounds and free radicals, respectively. In addition, the use of icVP/Ba contributed to a decrease in the phyto-, bio-, and genotoxicity of MTX. This is the first study to describe the possibility of removing MTX using immobilized crude fungal peroxidase.