Extraction of Anti‐cancer Water Soluble Compounds from Rumex Crispus

Abstract

Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in the United States in both men and women. In 2014,the estimated number of new cases is 96,830 and estimated death is 50,310 (American Cancer Society, 2014) which indicates a dire need of anticancer compounds with less side effects. Previous studies shows Rumex crispus as a promising source of anticancer compounds (Duke, J. 2003). In this study, water soluble compounds from Rumex crispus roots were extracted using Accelerated Solvent Extraction (ASE) and cell viability assay was performed for preliminary screening on human colorectal adenocarcinoma (DLD‐1 ATCC® CCL‐221TM) cell line which showed positive killing effect after treatment with extract. Extracts obtained from ASE were further purified and separated using reverse phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Cell viability assays were performed on all the HPLC collected fractions and the fractions with positive killing activity were further screened for caspase‐3/7 assay to show that cell death was through apoptosis. Two HPLC fractions were found to be positive with more than four fold increase in caspase‐3/7 activity. Further analysis by Mass Spectrometry (MS) shows number and masses of compounds for future purification and identification.Funding Source: Office of Research and Sponsored Projects, SFASU and Ed and Gwen Cole, Nacogdoches, TX.