Evaluating Medicinal Plants for Anticancer Activity

Abstract

Plants have been used for medical purposes since the beginning of human history and are the basis of modern medicine. Most chemotherapeutic drugs for cancer treatment are molecules identified and isolated from plants or their synthetic derivatives. Our hypothesis was that whole plant extracts selected according to ethnobotanical sources of historical use might contain multiple molecules with antitumor activities that could be very effective in killing human cancer cells. This study examined the effects of three whole plant extracts (ethanol extraction) on human tumor cells. The extracts were from Urtica membranacea (Urticaceae), Artemesia monosperma (Asteraceae), and Origanum dayi post (Labiatae). All three plant extracts exhibited dose- and time-dependent killing capabilities in various human derived tumor cell lines and primary cultures established from patients' biopsies. The killing activity was specific toward tumor cells, as the plant extracts had no effect on primary cultures of healthy human cells. Cell death caused by the whole plant extracts is via apoptosis. Plant extract 5 (Urtica membranacea) showed particularly strong anticancer capabilities since it inhibited actual tumor progression in a breast adenocarcinoma mouse model. Our results suggest that whole plant extracts are promising anticancer reagents.

Cytotoxicity Assessment of Six Different Extracts of Abelia triflora leaves on A-549 Human Lung Adenocarcinoma Cells

“…Our results also correlate with previous findings showing the in vitro cytotoxicity in this concentration range (Abdullah et al, 2014). Other plant extracts have also been shown to induce cytotoxicity against human lung adenocarcinoma cell line, A-549 (Solowey et al, 2014;Manglani et al, 2014). It has also been concluded that this kind of effects towards cancerous cells may be due to the presence of bioactive components such as, polysaccharides, flavonoids, coumarins, monoterpene glycoside and alkaloids in these plant extracts (Xiang et al, 2005, Xin et al, 2008, Li et al, 2009, Tan et.…”

Antiproliferative effect of berberine on canine mammary gland cancer cell culture

“…The results of studies using different cancer cell types propose that inhibition of the cell cycle and growth are ordinary actions of phenolic phytochemicals, determined by reduced cell viability and incidence of cell cycle arrest (8). Various studies have demonstrated that extracts from a number of herbal plants exhibit anticancer activities in vitro and in vivo (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11).…”

Study of Dendrophthoe Pentandra Ethyl Acetate Extract as Potential Anticancer Candidate on Safety and Toxicity Aspects

“…DPEA extract was dissolved in DMSO, followed by a 2 times serial dilution from 0.2 to 100µg/mL was added to the cells in 200µL medium. The 96-well plate was incubated for 72hours at 37 o C in a humidified atmosphere with 5% CO 2 . At the end of incubation, 50µL of MTT solution (2mg/ mL MTT in plain culture medium) was added to each well and incubated for 4hours.…”

“…From the dawn of ancient medicine, herbal medicine has become a topic of global importance, making an impact on both world health and international trade over the past 30 years for their potential as novel cancer preventive and therapeutic agents [1,2]. Medicinal plants continue to play a central role in the healthcare system of large proportions of the world's population.…”