First Ayurvedic Approach Towards Green Drugs: Anti Cervical Cancer-Cell Properties of Clerodendrum viscosum Root Extract

Abstract

The concept of Ayurvedic expert guided drug discovery and development is defined and put to test systematically for the first time in literature. Western Science has explored only ~5% of the approximately 25,000 species of higher plants for drug leads. The ancient medical science of Ayurveda has however employed a much larger spectrum of plants for clinical treatment. Clerodendrum viscosum (CV), a commonly growing weed in the Indian subcontinent has been employed by S. Nirmalananda (Ayurvedic expert) for the treatment of cervical cancer. Here we isolate and characterize a water extract fraction (Cv-AP) from the root of CV and evaluate its anticervical cancer cell bioactivity. Our results indicate that Cv-AP possesses pro-apoptotic, anti-proliferative, and anti-migratory activity in a dose-dependent fashion against cervical cancer cell lines. In contrast, primary fibroblasts (control healthy cells), when exposed to similar concentrations of this extract, fail to undergo apoptosis and remain relatively unaffected. These findings suggest that Clerodendrum viscosum (CV) is a readily available source of components with potent anti-cancer activity and selective bioactivity against cervical cancer cells. The major component in CV-AP was identified as a glycoprotein via SDS Page and Concanavalin-A binding studies. This study serves to illustrate that systematic collaboration with Ayurveda is a practical and powerful strategy in drug discovery and development.

Ethnobotanical uses, phytochemistry and pharmacological activities of Clerodendrum infortunatum L. (Lamiaceae): A review

“…The major component in fraction was identified as a glycoprotein via SDS Page and Concanavalin-A binding studies. 99 The hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and water fractions of 70% methanolic leaf extract displayed significant cytotoxicity against human glioblastoma (U87) cells. The fractions were able to arrest the cells at G2/M phase as well as induce apoptosis.…”

Anticancer Activity Of Plant Genus Clerodendrum (Lamiaceae): A Review

“…Lima senyawa yang berhasil diidentifikasi dalam tanaman genus ini yaitu apigenin 7-glucoside, hispidulin, scutellarein-7-O-beta-D-glucuronate, acteoside dan verbascoside menunjukan interaksi dengan protein kanker melalui simulasi penambatan molekul dan berpotensi menimbulkan efek terapi (Gogoi et al 2017 Wang, Zhu, et al 2013;Wang, Xiong, et al 2013;Xu et al 2013 memiliki aktivitas antikanker dari tanaman genus Clerodendrum adalah pheophorbide-related compounds (purpurin 7 dimethyl ester, pheophorbide a, methyl (10S)-hydroxypheophorbide a) (Cheng et al 2001); asam lemak (asam oleat, asam oktadekanoat, asam n-heksadekanoat, dan 6-metil-2-heptanon) (Erukainure et al 2016); asam oleanolik dan clerodinin A (Sannigrahi et al 2012); abitane diterpenoid (trichotomone, trichotomone D, trichotomone F, uncinatone, mandarone E, teuvincenone E, dan trichotomone H) (Wang, Xiong, et al 2013;Wang, Zhu, et al 2013) dan dua senyawa steroid (Xu et al 2013). Mekanisme antikanker beberapa tanaman genus Clerodendrum melalui aktivitas fotositoksisitas (Nakamura et al 1996;Choi et al 2014;Cheng et al 2001), apoptosis, antiproliferatif dan anti-migrasi (Sun et al 2013;Chacko et al 2015). Aktivitas apoptosis ditunjukan oleh peningkatan rasio bax/bcl-2 dan peningkatan ekspresi caspase 9 (Chacko et al 2015).…”

“…Fraksi air akar C. viscosum memiliki aktivitas antikanker serviks. Mekanisme antikanker melalui aktivitas pro-apoptosis, antiproliferatif, dan anti-migrasi yang tergantung pada dosis (Sun et al 2013) Ekstrak etanol akar C. infortunatum menunjukan aktifitas antiproliferasi pada sel Dalton's Lymphoma Ascites (DLA) dengan menggunakan trypan blue dye exclusion assay. Aktivitas antiproliferasi akar C. infortunatum yaitu menginduksi mekanisme apoptosis yang ditunjukan oleh peningkatan rasio bax/bcl-2 bersamaan dengan peningkatan ekspresi caspase 9 (Chacko et al 2015).…”

Exploring the Phytochemical Profile and Biological Activities of Clerodendrum infortunatum

“…Clerodendrum infortunatum is one of the most studied plants among the 580 species of the family Verbenaceae considering its ease of availability, apparent beneficial properties of the plant parts, and the extensive use of it by traditional healers for treating several diseases including cancer. − The anti-cancer property of the alcoholic and aqueous extract of the root and leaf of the plant has been reported by several groups without characterizing the phytochemicals responsible for this activity. Only a few reports have documented the active components, each demonstrating the cytotoxicity in one or two cell lines. , The active component responsible for the cytotoxic effect has been reported to vary from glycoproteins to abietane-type diterpenoidglycosides, oleanolic acid, clerodinin A, and so forth in these reports. Hence, a consensus could not be obtained, and none of these reports has been substantiated further, which prompted us to study the leaf and root extract in a systematic way to identify the potential cytotoxicity in a wide panel of human tumor cells with different characters and origins.…”