Ethiopian Medicinal Plants Traditionally Used for the Treatment of Cancer; Part 3: Selective Cytotoxic Activity of 22 Plants against Human Cancer Cell Lines.

Solomon Tesfaye,Hannah Braun,Ilias Muhammad,Anteneh Belete,Ephrem Engidawork,Sebastian Guenther,Nadin Schultze,Patrick J Bednarski,Christian Schulze,Kaleab Asres

doi:10.3390/molecules26123658

Abstract

Medicinal plants have been traditionally used to treat cancer in Ethiopia. However, very few studies have reported the in vitro anticancer activities of medicinal plants that are collected from different agro-ecological zones of Ethiopia. Hence, the main aim of this study was to screen the cytotoxic activities of 80% methanol extracts of 22 plants against human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), as well as human breast (MCF-7), lung (A427), bladder (RT-4), and cervical (SiSo) cancer cell lines. Active extracts were further screened against human large cell lung carcinoma (LCLC-103H), pancreatic cancer (DAN-G), ovarian cancer (A2780), and squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus (KYSE-70) by using the crystal violet cell proliferation assay, while the vitality of the acute myeloid leukemia (HL-60) and histiocytic lymphoma (U-937) cell lines was monitored in the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) microtiter assay. Euphorbia schimperiana, Acokanthera schimperi, Kniphofia foliosa, and Kalanchoe petitiana exhibited potent antiproliferative activity against A427, RT-4, MCF-7, and SiSo cell lines, with IC50 values ranging from 1.85 ± 0.44 to 17.8 ± 2.31 µg/mL. Furthermore, these four extracts also showed potent antiproliferative activities against LCLC-103H, DAN-G, A2780, KYSE-70, HL-60, and U-937 cell lines, with IC50 values ranging from 0.086 to 27.06 ± 10.8 µg/mL. Hence, further studies focusing on bio-assay-guided isolation and structural elucidation of active cytotoxic compounds from these plants are warranted.

Highlights

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide
Due to the rapid growth in the human population and increment in the prevalence of risk factors associated with economic transition, cancer incidence and death are rising in Africa [1]
Medicinal plants have been traditionally used in Ethiopia for the treatment of various diseases, including cancer [3,4,5]

Summary

Introduction

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Mainly due to the rapid growth in the human population and increment in the prevalence of risk factors associated with economic transition, cancer incidence and death are rising in Africa [1]. According to the GLOBOCAN 2018 report, cancer death is higher than cancer incidence in Africa, as compared to the rest of the world [2]. This might be due to the lack of an early cancer detection system, trained health care personal, treatment facilities, and access to anticancer drugs. Due to these challenges and higher treatment costs, patients in Ethiopia often choose to use traditional plant remedies as stand-alone or adjunct treatments. The phytoconstituents, including anticancer compounds, previously reported from these active plants have been discussed in this paper

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