Presentation Abstract

Abstract Number: 5714
Presentation Title: Screening of some tropical Indian plants for their anticancer activity
Presentation Time: Wednesday, Apr 21, 2010, 8:00 AM -11:00 AM
Location: Exhibit Hall A-C, Poster Section 35
Poster Section: 35
Poster Board Number: 17
Author Block: Akbar Nawab, Sanjay Gupta. Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH
Abstract Body: Carcinoma of the breast, colon and prostate are highly prevalent malignancies in the Western nations. Although much innovation in diagnosis and treatment of these cancers has been done but no satisfactory treatment options are currently available. New agents are required which can be developed as anticancer drugs. Despite major scientific and technological progress in combinatorial chemistry, plant derived drugs still make an enormous contribution to drug discovery. Tropical plant species namely Artemisia vulgaris (Compositae), Cichorium intybus (Compositae), Smilax glabra (Liliaceae), Solanum nigrum (Solanaceae) and Swertia chirayata (Gentianaceae) are commonly used for medicinal purposes in traditional forms of Indian medicine. Extracts derived from various parts have shown anti-inflammatory and anti-pyretic properties. However, the anticancer property has not been elucidated. We used human cancer cell lines derived from breast (T47-D), colon (RKO) and prostate (PC-3), to conduct our work. Aqueous freeze dried extracts were prepared from inflorescence (Artemisia vulgaris), seeds (Cichorium intybus), rhizome (Smilax glabra), berries (Solanum nigrum) and whole plant (Swertia chirayata) at the doses ranging from 1-1000μg/mL used to determine EC50 value by performing MTT assay. Exposure of aqueous extract obtained from berries of Solanum nigrum for 24-72h caused 40-87% growth inhibition of PC-3 cells and EC50 value determined to be 220μg/mL after 24 h of treatment. Similarly T47-D cells demonstrated 48-79% inhibition (EC50 550μg/mL) and RKO cells exhibited 40-76% inhibition of cell growth and EC50 value determined to be >1000 μg/mL. Furthermore, aqueous extracts of Artemisia vulgaris, Cichorium intybus, Smilax glabra and Swertia chirayata exhibited cell growth inhibition in all three cell lines but the EC50 values determined were >1000μg/mL. Treatment of cells with 500μg/mL doses of various plant extract for 48h exhibited DNA laddering in all three cell lines with Solanum nigrum. To further verify the apoptotic effect Solanum nigrum we investigated changes in the activity of the apoptotic-related proteins: poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase and caspase 3, which were cleaved in all three cell lines suggesting induction of apoptosis through perturbation of apoptotic signal pathway. A mechanistic understanding of the anti-proliferative and anticancer effects of Solanum nigrum remains to be elucidated.