Growth retardation and apoptotic death of tumor cells by Artemisia herba-alba oral administration in Ehrlich solid carcinoma bearing mice

Abstract

At present, there is a rapidly growing interest in studying the cytotoxic effects of Artemisia herba alba Asso, Asteraceae, in various cancer cell lines. However, its antitumor effectiveness has not been investigated. Therefore, the current study was conducted to study the effect of A. herba alba extract on the proliferation and growth of solid tumor cells in Ehrlich Solid Carcinoma bearing mice. Oral administration of A. herba alba extract resulted in significant reductions in tumor size, tumor weight and mice body weight, as well as caused concurrent significant increases in the DNA breakages and apoptotic DNA damage induction in a time-dependent manner. A. herba alba extract also raised the expression level of p53 gene and reduced of K-ras expression in a time-dependent manner. Minor histological lesions were observed in the liver and kidney tissues sections of mice administered A. herba alba extract compared with the high histological lesions observed in the liver and kidney tissues of artesunate and cisplatin treated groups. Thus, we concluded that A. herba alba extract exhibited promising potential antitumor efficacy with greater safety than artesunate and the commercially used anticancer drug cisplatin in mice.