Syzygium aromaticum extracts as good source of betulinic acid and potential anti-breast cancer

Abstract

Syzygium aromaticum (L.) Merr. & L.M. Perry, Myrtaceae, is an evergreen tree with anticarcinogenic, antimutagenic, aphrodisiac, antimicrobial, antioxidant and antiinflammatory properties. This study aims to investigate the anti-breast cancer effect of extracts from leaves, stem and bark of S. aromaticum and to develop a method for preparation of betulinic acid fraction from the leaves. Betulinic acid, ursolic acid and oleanolic acid contents of the extracts were determined by HPLC. A betulinic acid fraction was prepared by simple crystallization of leaves extract and was characterized by HPLC and mass analysis. Anti-breast cancer effects were studied on MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells. The extracts were found to contain high levels of betulinic acid particularly the leaves extract which contained 17% wt/wt. The betulinic acid fraction contains 75% betulinic acid. Cytotoxicity testing reveals high and selective cytotoxic effect of the stem extract on MCF-7 cells with IC50 33±1.6 µg/mL. Cytotoxic effect of the stem extract was due to activation of apoptotic machinery of cell death. Combination studies of stem extract with tamoxifen reveals antagonistic effect at high concentration of tamoxifen and enhancement effect at low concentration. The selective cytotoxicity of the stem extract of S. aromaticum on MCF-7 is not due to betulinic acid but due to other constituents yet to be discovered.

Syzygium campanulatum korth methanolic extract inhibits angiogenesis and tumor growth in nude mice

“…BA was isolated from S.C. methanolic extract as described previously with some modifications [19]. In brief, 50 g of the methanolic extract was dissolved in 150 ml methanol and was kept at 2–8°C for overnight.…”

“…Elution was performed with n-hexane: ethyl acetate at 8:2 (v/v). Fractions (10 ml) were collected and tested by HPLC versus BA standard as described previously [19]. The fraction of highest purity (100 mg) was further characterized by FTIR and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS).…”

Malaysian Medicinal Plants’ Potential for Breast Cancer Therapy

“…3. Inhibiting proliferation via the activation of caspase-3 and caspase-9, up-regulation of the ratio of bax/bcl-2 protein expression in Ardisia brevicaulis [61] Artocarpus obtusus [50,62] Ardisia brecaulis [63], Carica papaya [64] Catharanthus roseus [118][119], Costus speciosus [121][122], Cucuma zedoaria [65], Dysoxylum cauliforum [66], Goniosthalamus macrophyllus [137][138], Gynura procumbens [139], Lawsonia inermis [56,[146][147], Leea indica [148][149], Nepthelium lappaceum [56,156] Pandanus amarylfolius [41], Phyla nodiflora [67], Physalis minima [52,78], Rhodiola rosea [68], Vernonia amygdalina [65] and Schima wallichi [38]. 4.…”

Recovery of betulinic acid from plane tree (Platanus acerifolia L.)

“…Betulinic acid (3β, hydroxy-lup-20(29)-en-28-oic acid) is a triterpenic acid which can be isolated from various botanical sources, including clove (Syzygium aromaticum), Lamiaceae herbs such as rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) and java tea (Orthosiphon stamineus), and the bark of several betula species (birch trees), eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus) and plane (Platanus acerifolia) trees [1,[3][4][5][6][7][8].…”