Anti-cancer activity of Korean local plant extracts inducing apoptosis in various carcinoma cells

Yi Kwan Yoon, Seung Eun Lee, Dong Jin Lee, Mun Chual Rho, Jung Suk Sung, Chung Berm Park, Young Joo Jang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Thirty five methanol extracts from 19 natural local plants, which have been used as traditional anti-cancer medicine, were prepared. They were analyzed the cytotoxic effects on primary fibroblast cells and carcinoma cells. The root extract of Solanum nigrum were highly toxic in both cell lines with IC 50 values of less than 0.01 μg/μl, and 26 of 35 extracts were toxic in all cells with IC 50 values of 0.1∼2 μg/μl. Three extracts including the fruit extracts of Solanum nigrum and Morus alba had no cytotoxic activity in both cell lines. Five of 35 extracts were highly toxic in cancer cells than in primary cells. Because primary cells were more resistant on these extracts, the five extracts were selected for anti-cancer agent candidates. Apoptosis o r programmed cell death has an essential role in chemotherapy-induced tumor cell killing. Recently, inducers of apoptosis have been used in cancer therapy. When two of 5 cancer cell-specific cytotoxic extracts (Ulmus parvifolia and Zelkova serrata) were treated in concentration of 0.02∼0.1 μg/μl, apoptosis were increased at 3-5 times in cancer cell lines. Finally, the apoptotic effects of these extracts were confirmed by cleavages of both poly-(ADP-ribose)-polymerase and caspase-3 as apoptotic markers. In this report, we suggested that two of 35 medicinal herb extracts can be useful anti-cancer drug candidates inducing apoptosis in several carcinoma cell lines.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)6-12
Number of pages7
JournalKorean Journal of Pharmacognosy
Volume40
Issue number1
StatePublished - Mar 2009

Keywords

  • Anti-cancer
  • Apoptosis
  • Cytotoxicity
  • Ulmus parvifolia
  • Zelkova serrata

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Anti-cancer activity of Korean local plant extracts inducing apoptosis in various carcinoma cells'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this