Anti-cancer activity of an ethyl-acetate extract of the fruits of Terminalia bellerica (Gaertn.) Roxb. through an apoptotic signaling pathway in vitro

Abstract

Abstract Objective To investigate the biochemical constituents of the fruits of Terminalia bellerica (Gaertn.) Roxb. (hereafter termed T. bellerica) and estimate the anti-cancer activity of different polar extracts. Methods To rapidly screen and identify the biochemical constituents of ethyl acetate (EA) extracts of T. bellerica, ultra performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI-MSn) was done. The CellTiter-Blue™ cell-viability assay was used to ascertain the anti-cancer activity of different polar extracts in 10 human cancer cell lines. Results Forty polyphenols of the EA extract of T. bellerica were characterized tentatively. The EA extract exhibited significant anti-cancer activity against ZR-75-1 cells (half-maximal inhibitory concentration = 27.33 (0.98) μg/mL) and Colo-205 cells (39.65 (2.99) μg/mL) in vitro. Treatment of ZR-75-1 cells with 20 and 60 μg/mL of the EA extract elicited dose-dependent apoptosis percentages at an early stage of 17.58 (0.74) % and at a late stage of 29.20 (1.22) %; Colo-205 cells at the same concentration of EA extract had values of 21.33 (1.03) % and 40.55 (0.34) %, respectively. Western blotting suggested that ZR-75-1 and Colo-205 cells treated with the EA extract showed a similar increasing tendency for expression of cleaved anti-poly adenosine diphosphate ribose polymerase I. Conclusion We identified a total of 40 chemical constituents, of which 11 were first obtained from the Terminalia Linn. genus using UPLC-ESI-MSn. Meanwhile, we observe that the EA extract of T. bellerica possesses anti-cancer activity, especially against breast and colon cancers.