Daucus carota L. ssp. carota (Apiacea) is used in traditional medicine in Lebanon and in different regions throughout the world. The present study investigates the in vitro anticancer activities of Daucus carota oil extract (DCOE) on four human cancer cell lines as well as its in vitro antioxidant activity. DCOE was extracted from the dried umbels with 50:50 acetone-methanol. The oil extract was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and screened for its antioxidant properties in vitro using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl free radical scavenging assay (DPPH), ferrous ion chelating assay (FIC) and the ferric reducing antioxidant power assay (FRAP). The anticancer activity of the oil extract against human colon (HT-29, Caco-2) and breast (MCF-7, MDA-MB-231) cancer cell lines was evaluated using the trypan blue exclusion method and the WST-1 cell proliferation assay. DCOE exhibited antioxidant activity in all assays used. The FRAP value was 164 ± 5.5 µmol FeSO4 /g, and the IC50 values for DPPH and FIC assays were 2.1 ± 0.03 mg/ml and 0.43 ± 0.02 mg/ml, respectively. Also, DCOE demonstrated a significant increase in cell death and decrease in cell proliferation. The effect of DCOE on the cell lines exhibited time and dose-dependent responses. The present study established that DCOE possesses both antioxidant and promising anticancer activities.

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The current study investigates [Ru(bipy) 2 (dpphen)]-Cl 2 [where bipy = 2,2′-bipyridine and dpphen = 2,9-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline] (complex 1) for photoactivatable chemotherapy (PACT) application on five cancer cell lines.[Ru(bipy) 2 (phen)]Cl 2 [where phen = 1,10-phenanthroline] (complex 2) was included as an unstrained control. Upon excitation with visible light, complex 2 proved to be photostable while complex 1 underwent a quantitative dissociation of the bipy ligand and formation of a Ru II polypyridyl aqua complex in water. Complex 1 demonstrated only marginal activity in the dark; its cytotoxicity increased significantly upon photoactivation with a high phototoxicity index (PI = [IC 50 dark]/[IC 50 light]) [a]

BackgroundDaucus carota L.ssp.carota (wild carrot), an herb used in folk medicine worldwide, was recently demonstrated to exhibit anticancer activity. In this study we examined the anticancer effect of Daucus carota oil extract (DCOE) fractions on the human breast adenocarcinoma cell lines MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 and clarified the mechanism of action.Methods and resultsUsing the WST assay, the pentane fraction (F1) and 1:1 pentane:diethyl ether fraction (F2) were shown to possess the highest cytotoxicity against both cell lines. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that both fractions induced the accumulation of cells in the sub-G1 phase, increase in apoptotic cell death and chromatin condensation. The increase in apoptosis in response to treatment was also apparent in the increase in BAX and the decrease in Bcl-2 levels as well as the proteolytic cleavage of both caspase-3 and PARP as revealed by Western blot. Furthermore, treatment of MDA-MB-231 cells with either fraction significantly reduced the level of phosphorylated Erk but did not show any effect on phosphorylated Akt. The combined treatment with a potent PI3K inhibitor (wortmannin) and F1 or F2 fraction had a synergistic inhibitory effect on cell survival which shows that these two drugs work on different pathways.ConclusionsThese results suggest that the pentane-based fractions of DCOE possess potential anti-cancer activity that is mainly mediated through the Erk pathway.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1472-6882-14-387) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.