Abstract
Imperata cylindrica, a tall tufted grass which has multiple pharmacological applications is one of the key ingredients in various traditional medicinal formula used in India. Previous reports have shown that I. cylindrica plant extract inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis in various cancer cell lines. To our knowledge, no studies have been published on the effect of I. cylindrica leaf extract on human oral cancers. The present study was undertaken in order to evaluate the anticancer properties of the leaf extract of I. cylindrica using an oral squamous cell carcinoma cell line SCC-9 as an in vitro model system. A methanol extract from dried leaves of I. cylindrica (ICL) was prepared by standard procedures. Effects of the ICL extract on the morphology of SCC-9 cells was visualized by microscopy. Cytotoxicity was determined by MTT assay. Effects of the ICL extract on colony forming ability of SCC-9 cells was evaluated using clonogenic assay. Cell cycle analysis was performed by flow cytometry and induction of apoptosis was determined by DNA fragmentation assay. The ICL extract treatment caused cytotoxicity and induced cell death in vitro in SCC-9 cells in a dose-dependent manner. This treatment also significantly reduced the clonogenic potential and inhibited cell proliferation by arresting the cell cycle in the G2/M phase. Furthermore, DNA fragmentation assays showed that the observed cell death was caused by apoptosis. This is the first report showing the anticancer activity of the methanol extracts from the leaves of I. cylindrica in human oral cancer cell line. Our data indicates that ICL extract could be considered as one of the lead compounds for the formulation of anticancer therapeutic agents to treat/manage human oral cancers. The natural abundance of I. cylindrica and its wide geographic distribution could render it one of the primary resource materials for preparation of anticancer therapeutic agents.
Highlights
Oral cell carcinoma belongs to the group of human head and neck cancers which causes high morbidity and mortality
Our data indicates that I. cylindrica (ICL) extract could be considered as one of the lead compounds for the formulation of anticancer therapeutic agents to treat/manage human oral cancers
Dulbecco’s Modified Eagles Medium (DMEM), fetal bovine serum (FBS), penicillin-streptomycin and trypsin-EDTA were purchased from Gibco BRL (Life technologies, Grand Island, NY, USA). 3-(4, 5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5Diphenyltetrazolium Bromide (MTT) reagent was obtained from Sisco Research Laboratories Pvt
Summary
Oral cell carcinoma belongs to the group of human head and neck cancers which causes high morbidity and mortality. In the year 2012 alone globally the oral cancers were estimated to have a fresh incidence and mortality of 300,373 and 145,353 respectively. The estimated prevalence for the year 2015 was 324,398 cases of incidence and 157,139 cases of deaths due to oral cancer (Ferlay et al, 2013; Forman et al, 2014). The incidence of oral cancer is further increased due to the high usage of chewable/smokeless tobacco and betel quid in India (de Camargo Cancela et al, 2010; IARC, 2012; Anantharaman et al, 2013; Krishna et al, 2013). Data from the National Cancer Registry in India shows a gender based difference in oral cancer incidence with a men:women ratio of 2:1 which is suggestive of lifestyle and behavioral differences among genders (Sankaranarayanan et al, 2005; Thorat et al, 2009)
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