Piper and Vismia Species from Colombian Amazonia Differentially Affect Cell Proliferation of Hepatocarcinoma Cells

Abstract

There is an increasing interest to identify plant-derived natural products with antitumor activities. In this work, we have studied the effects of aqueous leaf extracts from Amazonian Vismia and Piper species on human hepatocarcinoma cell toxicity. Results showed that, depending on the cell type, the plants displayed differential effects; thus, Vismia baccifera induced the selective killing of HepG2, while increasing cell growth of PLC-PRF and SK-HEP-1. In contrast, these two last cell lines were sensitive to the toxicity by Piper krukoffii and Piper putumayoense, while the Piperaceae did not affect HepG2 growth. All the extracts induced cytotoxicity to rat hepatoma McA-RH7777, but were innocuous (V. baccifera at concentrations < 75 µg/mL) or even protected cells from basal death (P. putumayoense) in primary cultures of rat hepatocytes. In every case, cytotoxicity was accompanied by an intracellular accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). These results provide evidence for the anticancer activities of the studied plants on specific cell lines and suggest that cell killing could be mediated by ROS, thus involving mechanisms independent of the plants free radical scavenging activities. Results also support the use of these extracts of the Vismia and Piper genera with opposite effects as a model system to study the mechanisms of the antitumoral activity against different types of hepatocarcinoma.

Actividad antiproliferativa de aceites esenciales de plantas cultivadas en Colombia

“…Del AE de Ocotea caparrapi (Sandino Groot ex Nates) Dugand, palo de Caparrí, se registra su potencial como coadyuvante del tratamiento convencional de tumores cutáneos (Palomino et al 1996;Bernal et al, 2011). Los extractos de Vismia baccifera Reichart, Passiflora edulis Sims y especies del género Piper presentaron actividad antiproliferativa en células de cáncer hepático (Osma et al, 2013;Lizcano et al, 2015).…”

Encapsulation of <em>Piper cabralanum </em>(Piperaceae) nonpolar extract in poly(methyl methacrylate) by miniemulsion and evaluation of increase in the effectiveness of antileukemic activity in K562 cells

“…21 Piperaceae extracts have shown antileukemic activity. [21][22][23][24][25] The presence of substitute phenolic groups for compounds, such as chalcones, has motivated the study of Piperaceae extracts against cancer. The chalcones are described as promising drugs for antitumor treatment, which they demonstrate by inducing three different effects: antioxidants, cytotoxic, and apoptosis-inducing.…”

Antiproliferative activity of chloroformic fractions from leaves and inflorescences of Ageratina gracilis

“…Colombia is one of the countries with the highest diversity of plant species that can be used in treating diseases (Lizcano et al, 2014). Ageratina gracilis (Kunth) R.M.…”