Abstract
BackgroundPlants that are used as traditional medicine represent a relevant pool for selecting plant candidates that may have anticancer properties. In this study, the ethnomedicinal approach was used to select several medicinal plants native to Nigeria, on the basis of their local or traditional uses. The collected plants were then evaluated for cytoxicity.MethodsThe antitumor activity of methanolic extracts obtained from 24 of the selected plants, were evaluated in vitro on five human cancer cell lines.ResultsResults obtained from the plants screened indicate that 18 plant extracts of folk medicine exhibited promising cytotoxic activity against human carcinoma cell lines. Erythrophleum suaveolens (Guill. & Perr.) Brenan was found to demonstrate potent anti-cancer activity in this study exhibiting IC50 = 0.2-1.3 μg/ml.ConclusionsBased on the significantly potent activity of some plants extracts reported here, further studies aimed at mechanism elucidation and bio-guided isolation of active anticancer compounds is currently underway.
Highlights
Plants that are used as traditional medicine represent a relevant pool for selecting plant candidates that may have anticancer properties
In this study 24 indigenous plants from Southwestern Nigeria were screened for their ability to induce cytotoxicity human cancer cell lines, the results of the study have demonstrated that reliance on ethnomedicinal information as a strategic approach in the selection of native plants is an effective method that yields positive selection of taxonomically diverse leads with very few unfavorable candidates
This study has demonstrated the successful streamlining of the screening process of bioactive plants with anticancer activity, by eliminating poor candidates on the basis of cytotoxic criterion that takes into consideration effective dosage
Summary
Plants that are used as traditional medicine represent a relevant pool for selecting plant candidates that may have anticancer properties. The ethnomedicinal approach was used to select several medicinal plants native to Nigeria, on the basis of their local or traditional uses. By 2015 cancer morbidity may climb to around nine million world-wide. This growing trend indicates deficiency in the present cancer therapies which include surgical operation, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Since the average survival rates have remained essentially unchanged despite such aggressive treatments, there is a critical need for anti-cancer agents with higher efficacy, and less side effects that can be acquired at an affordable cost. We suppose that plants are the best alternative, as they provide an inexhaustible pool of efficacious agents for treating disease. Phytochemicals have always been sought after because of their inherent potential to cure
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