Antiproliferative Effect of Epilobium parviflorum Extracts on Colorectal Cancer Cell Line HT-29

Abstract

The Epilobium species, rich in various active phytochemicals, have been widely used in folk medicine to treat several diseases including benign prostatic hyperplasia. Despite being demonstrated on some type of cancer cells such as prostate cancer, their potential anti-cancerous role on colorectal adenocarcinoma cells has not been studied yet. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), colon cancer is the third most common form of cancer, resulting over 800 000 deaths every year worldwide. The present study demonstrates the anti-cancerous activity of aqueous and ethanolic Epilobium parviflorum extracts in colon cancer cell line HT-29 cells in vitro. The both type of extracts reduced the cell viability of HT-29 cells in a dose dependent manner. Gene expression analysis of HT-29 cells demonstrated an increase at apoptotic genes, caspase 3 and caspase 8. Nuclear fragmentation of apoptotic cells was also demonstrated through TUNEL assay as well as immunostaining experiments. On the other hand, same lethal concentrations of E. parviflorum extracts were not profound on non-cancerous human fibroblast cell line BJ cells. Our results indicate that E. parviflorum may also be used as a therapeutic agent against colon cancers.