In vitro evaluation of pro-apoptotic and anti-metastatic activity of Oliveria decumbens vent. extract, an endemic Persian medicinal plant, on HT-29 colorectal cancer cell line

Abstract

Colorectal cancer is one of the most diagnosed and the third deadliest diseases worldwide. Despite early detection and screening have increased the survival rate, colorectal cancer still takes hundreds of thousands of lives each year globally. Near 50% of current chemotherapeutic drugs are indirect or direct descendants of compounds isolated from medicinal plants, which indicates plants are great potential sources of novel therapeutics. In this research, we studied the Oliveria decumbens Vent. which holds numerous secondary metabolites with pharmacological activities. However, no study on anticancer activity of this kind has been reported. The Oliveria decumbens Vent. is a rare, wild, and endemic Persian medicinal plant which is traditionally used in cases of gastrointestinal diseases and infections in Persian Traditional Medicine. Nevertheless, this is to be studied scientifically for the very first time. Consequently, this research is aimed to evaluate the anticancer effect of the flower Oliveria decumbens Vent. ethanolic extract against HT-29 colorectal cancer cell line using 6 techniques including cytotoxicity, cell viability by MTT assay, DPPH, gene expression assay, wound-healing assay (scratch-test) along with a DNA damage test. The ethanolic extract showed an Ic50 of 14.39 μg/ml. The results from real-time PCR demonstrated that the ethanolic extract from Oliveria decumbens effectively promoted apoptosis by increasing the expression of the pro-apoptotic gene, bax, and slightly decreasing the anti-apoptotic gene, bcl2. Additionally, the Scratch test indicated its potential in inhibiting metastasis, while DNA fragmentation confirmed its ability to induce DNA damage. Considering these findings, the Oliveria decumbens ethanolic extract holds promise as a prospective anticancer and chemotherapeutic agent, warranting further investigation in future studies.