Abstract
Breast and colon cancers are leading causes of cancer-related deaths globally. Plants are a potential source of natural products that may be used for the treatment of cancer. Ferula hermonis (FH) is reported to have diverse therapeutic effects. However, there are few reports on the in vitro anticancer potential of FH extract. Our results showed that the Ferula hermonis root hexane extract (FHRH) can induce dose-dependent cytotoxic effects in breast and colon cancer cells with MTT IC50 values of 18.2 and 25 μg/ml, respectively. The FHRH extract induced apoptosis in both breast and colon cancer cells; this was confirmed by light and nuclear staining, q-PCR, and caspase 3/7 activation. This study also demonstrated the antitumor activity of FHRH in 9,10-dimethylbenz[α]anthracene DMBA-induced rodent mammary tumor model. The GC/MS analysis revealed the presence of 3,5-Dimethylbenzenemethanol, Alpha-Bisabolol, Alpha-pinene, Beta-pinene, and Baccatin III that have various pharmacological potentials. Overall, the present study suggests that FHRH extract possesses anticancer potential which is mediated through apoptotic effects in MDA-MB-231 and LoVo cells. The present study also considered a basis for further investigations into the potential use of FHRH extract as an anticancer therapy for breast and colon cancers.
Highlights
Breast and colorectal cancers have been and still are the most prevalent cancers worldwide, with an estimated 2.4 and 1.7 million incident cases, respectively, in 2015 [1]
The LoVo colon cancer cell line was less sensitive compared to the breast cancer cell line, MDA-MB-231, with IC50 values of 25 and 18.2 μg/ml, respectively
The cytotoxic effect of the Ferula hermonis root hexane extract (FHRH) extract was measured based on the intracellular Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) enzyme released into the culture medium upon plasma membrane damage
Summary
Breast and colorectal cancers have been and still are the most prevalent cancers worldwide, with an estimated 2.4 and 1.7 million incident cases, respectively, in 2015 [1] Both breast and colon cancers rank among the top cancers in the Saudi population, according to the Saudi Cancer Registry reports [2]. Among all the research programs in different therapeutic areas in 2008, approximately 108 research programs were plant-derived natural products for drug discovery. Among these projects, about 2 were in preregistration phase, 5 were in phase III, 41 were in phase II, 14 were in phase I, and 46 were in preclinical stage of drug discovery [4]. There are many examples of anticancer drugs developed from plant sources, such as pomiferin isolated from Maclura pomifera, sulforaphane isolated from
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