Abstract
Edible plants have been widely used in traditional therapeutics because of the biological activities of their natural ingredients, including anticancer, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties. Plant sap contains such medicinal substances and their secondary metabolites provide unique chemical structures that contribute to their therapeutic efficacy. Plant extracts are known to contain a variety of extracellular vesicles (EVs) but the effects of such EVs on various cancers have not been investigated. Here, we extracted EVs from four plants—Dendropanax morbifera, Pinus densiflora, Thuja occidentalis, and Chamaecyparis obtusa—that are known to have cytotoxic effects. We evaluated the cytotoxic effects of these EVs by assessing their ability to selectively reduce the viability of various tumor cell types compared with normal cells and low metastatic cells. EVs from D. morbifera and P. densiflora sap showed strong cytotoxic effects on tumor cells, whereas those from T. occidentalis and C. obtusa had no significant effect on any tumor cell types. We also identified synergistic effect of EVs from D. morbifera and P. densiflora saps on breast and skin tumor cells and established optimized treatment concentrations. Our findings suggest these EVs from plant sap as new candidates for cancer treatment.
Highlights
Plant extracts and natural compounds from various plants and herbs have been widely used as traditional medicines, and considerable effort has been made to confirm their therapeutic effects described in ancient medicinal texts [1]
We found that Dendropanax Morbifera (DM)-extracellular vesicles (EVs) exerted cytotoxic effects on malignant breast and skin tumor cells without affecting normal cells
This combined treatment showed selective toxicity toward A431 cells relative to HNF cells, but the difference was modest compared with that for breast cells (Figure 5e). These results suggest that the combination of DM-EVs and Pinus densiflora (PD)-EVs induces selective toxicity but that the difference varies according to cell type and tissue of origin
Summary
Plant extracts and natural compounds from various plants and herbs have been widely used as traditional medicines, and considerable effort has been made to confirm their therapeutic effects described in ancient medicinal texts [1]. It has been found that ginger (Zingiber officinale), ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), and astragalus (Astragalus membranaceus) are helpful in attenuating the debilitating side effects of chemotherapeutic agents [2,3,4,5,6]. Plant saps, such as mastic gum, frankincense, and myrrh, are known to possess anticancer effects, reflecting the abundance of carbohydrates and many other natural components that affect cancer [7,8,9,10,11]. New anticancer agents with reduced side effects are in high demand [13]
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