Abstract
Avicennia marina is the most abundant and common mangrove species and has been used as a traditional medicine for skin diseases, rheumatism, ulcers, and smallpox. However, its anticancer activities and polyphenol contents remain poorly characterized. Thus, here we investigated anticancer activities of secondary A. marina metabolites that were purified by sequential soxhlet extraction in water, ethanol, methanol, and ethyl acetate (EtOAc). Experiments were performed in three human breast cancer cell lines (AU565, MDA-MB-231, and BT483), two human liver cancer cell lines (HepG2 and Huh7), and one normal cell line (NIH3T3). The chemotherapeutic potential of A. marina extracts was evaluated in a xenograft mouse model. The present data show that EtOAc extracts of A. marina leaves have the highest phenolic and flavonoid contents and anticancer activities and, following column chromatography, the EtOAc fractions F2-5, F3-2-9, and F3-2-10 showed higher cytotoxic effects than the other fractions. 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR profiles indicated that the F3-2-10 fraction contained avicennones D and E. EtOAc extracts of A. marina leaves also suppressed xenograft MDA-MB-231 tumor growth in nude mice, suggesting that EtOAc extracts of A. marina leaves may provide a useful treatment for breast cancer.
Highlights
Cancer causes a wide variety of diseases and is characterized by uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells and subsequent disruption of organ and tissue functions
Experiments were performed in three human breast cancer cell lines (AU565, MDA-MB-231, and BT483), two human liver cancer cell lines (HepG2 and Huh7), and one normal cell line (NIH3T3)
The present data show that EtOAc extracts of A. marina leaves have the highest phenolic and flavonoid contents and anticancer activities and, following column chromatography, the EtOAc fractions fractions 2-5 (F2-5), F3-2-9, and F3-2-10 showed higher cytotoxic effects than the other fractions. 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR profiles indicated that the F3-2-10 fraction contained avicennones D and E
Summary
Cancer causes a wide variety of diseases and is characterized by uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells and subsequent disruption of organ and tissue functions. Treatments for cancer usually include surgery followed by radiotherapies and chemotherapies [1] that inhibit cancer cell growth and proliferation. Various chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic agents have been shown to induce apoptotic cell death in both in vitro and in vivo studies, suggesting that apoptosis plays a crucial role in cancer treatment [7]. The widely used chemotherapeutic drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) inhibits tumor cell growth in animal models by inducing apoptotic activation of the CD95/CD95L system [8]. Many studies have shown that dietary phytochemicals induce apoptosis in cancer cells, suggesting potential for development as cancer therapeutic agents [12]
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