Biomass Accumulation of Gynostemma Pentaphyllum (Thunb.) Makino in Cell Suspension Cultures inhibiting Human Cancer Cell Growth

Abstract

Gynostemma pentaphyllum (Thunb.) Makino (GpM) is a medicinal plant in traditional medicine throughout Asia for the treatment of several diseases including cancer. GpM plant cell suspension cultures provide a time and cost effective well-controlled means promising a high-yielding biomass production of pharmaceutical compounds. The purpose of the current work is to investigate the effect of GpM cell suspension cultures on human cancer cell lines growth. The biomass was produced by cell suspension culture of GpM callus into 250 mL Erlenmeyer flask containing 50 mL of liquid medium culture. Gypenosides in GpM were confirmed by HPLC. Pharmacological activities of GpM extract were tested on human cancer cell line (HepG2, Huh7, A549 and HL-60) using Sulforhodamine B (SRB) cytotoxicity assay and Tetrazolium (MTT) assay. We successfully produced 5.485 ± 0.223 g GpM fresh biomass per 250 mL Erlenmeyer flask after 18 days culture. Total gypenosides and Rb1 in dry cell suspension were 48.844 ± 3.933 mg/g and 0.041 ± 0.004 mg/g. The crude extract from GpM cell suspension cultures exhibited significant cancerous cell growth inhibition in a dose dependent manner. From the MTT assay and SRB cytotoxicity assay, it is obvious that GpM cell suspension culture extract at 200 μg/mL significantly inhibited the growth of multiple human cancer cells including hepatoma cell lines (HepG2, Huh7), lung carcinoma cell line (A549) and leukemia cell line (HL-60). Anti-cancer cell proliferation properties of GpM cell suspension culture were significantly higher than those of natural plants’ extracts. In this framework, GpM in cell suspension cultures was found to inhibit the proliferation of several human cancer cells. Biomass accumulation of GpM in cell suspension cultures may contribute to the development of efficient strategies for plant-derived anticancer compound production.