Abstract
Purpose: The aim of the current study was to investigate the in vitro antiproliferative activity of methanolic extracts of six plants regardless of their claimed ethnopharmacological application.Methods: Methanol extracts of different parts of Glycyrrhizaglabra L. (Licorice), Matricaria chamomilla L. (Chamomile), Salvia triloba L. (Sage), Rheum palmatum L. (Rhubarb), Trigonella foenum-graecum L. (Fenugreek) and Sambucusebulus L. (Dwarf Elder) were prepared. The antiproliferative effects of the extracts were tested on two skin cancer melanoma cell lines namely A375.S2 (low tyrosinase expression) and WM 136.1A (high tyrosinase expression) using MTT assay. The IC50 values for the active extracts were determined against the two melanoma cell lines.Results: The methanolic extracts of G.glabra, M. chamomilla, S. triloba, R. palmatum inhibited the melanotic WM1361A proliferation in a dose-dependent manner revealing IC50 values of 35.2, 25.2, 20.6, 17.8, μg/ml, respectively but not A375.S2 cell line. However, the extracts of T. foenum-graecum and S. ebulus did not exhibit any significant cytotoxic activity on both melanoma cell lines.Conclusion: The results of these experiments show that methanol extracts of licorice, chamomile, sage and rhubarb have significant antiproliferative activity onWM1361A cell line; a representative human melanotic melanocyte tumor cell line. This renders these plants as potential sources of new lead compounds for the development of new drugs for melanoma cancer.Keywords: Melanoma, Plant extract, tyrosinase, Licorice, Chamomile, Sage, Rhubarb, WM1361A
Highlights
Discovery of new drugs or compounds with antineoplastic activity from natural sources have become popular among scientific communities, presenting new opportunities in the management of different types of cancer
Doxorubicin used as positive standard inhibited bothWM1361A and A375.S2 cell lines in a dose dependent manner with an IC50 of 3.5 and 4.7μg/ml respectively
This study has shown that the extracts of Sage, Chamomile, Rhubarb, and Licorice have inhibitory potential against the melanotic WM1361A proliferation in a dose-dependent manner with the degree of cellular inhibition increasing with increased concentration of the extracts
Summary
Discovery of new drugs or compounds with antineoplastic activity from natural sources have become popular among scientific communities, presenting new opportunities in the management of different types of cancer. Folk-lore use and investigational experiments, six popular plants (Table 1) that are widely distributed in the Mediterranean region and cultivated in Jordan have been reported to exhibit anticancer activity against one or more type of cancer cell line and possessed many medical benefits [1]. Salvia essential oils have been reported to exhibit antibacterial [4,5], anti-viral [6], and cytotoxic effects against some cancer cell lines including human larynx epidermoid carcinoma (HEp-2) [7] and breast adenocarcinoma (MCF7) [8]
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