Anticancer, Antibacterial and Antioxidant Activity of Urtica dioica, Silybum marianum and Cynara scolymus Extracts

Abstract

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most prevalent cancer types worldwide and one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths. Gastric cancer is an aggressive and heterogeneous disease with a poorly understood carcinogenesis at the molecular level. Therefore, the research for effective drug therapy strategies plays a significant role in treating the disease. One of these effective treatment strategies is herbal-based therapeutics, which have low side effects and contain many biologically active compounds. In this study, the effect of U.dioica, S. marianum and C. scolymus herbal extracts on cell viability in L929, AGS and SH-SY5Y cell lines was analyzed by XTT test to evaluate the anticancer activities. Antibacterial and antioxidant activities of extracts were determined by the agar well diffusion test and CUPRAC method, respectively. We found that U. dioica and S. marianum extracts showed no significant effect on the viability of AGS and SH-SY5Y cancer cells. C. scolymus extract demonstrated strong anticancer activity on AGS cancer cells at all concentrations but had no effect on SH-SY5Y cells. U. dioica and C. scolymus exhibited antibacterial activity against S. aureus and B. cereus, respectively. No antibacterial activity was found in S. marianum extract. U. dioica and S. marianum extracts have shown strong antioxidant activity in CUPRAC assay. In conclusion, the obtained results revealed the antibacterial and anticancer therapeutic potential of C. scolymus extract known as artichoke in gastric cancer cells. However, more research is required to better explain the therapeutic properties of these extracts.