Anti-Angiogenic and Cytotoxicity Studies of Some Medicinal Plants

Abstract

Angiogenesis plays an important role in tumor formation and proliferation. The development of anti-angiogenic agents to block new blood vessel growth will inhibit metastasis and induce apoptosis of the cancer cells. Nine medicinal plants, Strobilanthes crispus, Phyllanthus niruri, Phyllanthus pulcher, Phyllanthus urinaria, Ailanthus malabarica, Irvingia malayana, Smilax myosotiflora, Tinospora crispa and blumea balsamifera were screened for anti-angiogenic properties using the rat aortic ring assay. Of these, the methanol extracts of Phyllanthus species and Irvingia malayana exhibited the highest activity. At 100 microg/mL, P. pulcher, P. niruri, P. urinaria and I. malayana recorded an inhibition of 78.8 %, 59.5 %, 56.7 % and 46.4 %, respectively, against rat aortic vascular growth. Their activities were further investigated by the tube formation assay involving human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) on Matrigel. I. malayana, P. niruri and P. urinaria showed a significant decrease of 45.5, 37.9 and 35.6 %, respectively, whilst P. pulcher showed a much lower decrease of 15.5 % when compared with that of the rat aortic ring assay. All the plant extracts were evaluated for cytotoxicity on a panel of human cancer cell lines using the MTT assay. None of them displayed acute cytotoxicity. The HPLC of P. niruri, P. urinaria and P. pulcher indicated the extracts contained some identical chromatographic peaks of lignans. Further fractionation of I. malayana yielded betulinic acid reported in this plant for the first time and at 100 microg/mL it exhibited a 67.3 % inhibition of vessel outgrowth and 46.5 % inhibition of tube formation.

Antiangiogenic Effects and Therapeutic Targets ofAzadirachta indicaLeaf Extract in Endothelial Cells

“…The safety of the approved antiangiogenic agents (e.g., bavacizumab, sunitnib, and sorafenib) is of special concern when taking these agents for longer-term adjuvant or maintenance treatments [6]. Plant extracts and natural compounds possess various bioactive phytochemicals, usually targeting multiple signaling pathways, exhibit less toxicity and thus ideal as alternative and complimentary forms of cancer treatments that involve the dysregulation of multiple genes [7]. This has prompted the recent testing for anticancer potential of numerous plant extracts such as those from green tea, grape seed, pomegranate juice, soy, and garlic [8].…”

Isolation and cytotoxicity of triterpenes from the roots of Phyllanthus pulcher Wall. ex Mll. Arg. (Euphorbiaceae)

“…In Malaysia, P. pulcher is traditionally used for the treatment of stomach-ache and ulceration (Burkill, 1935). Only recently the biological activities of this species have been reported which includes anti-HIV-1 reverse transcriptase and anti-angiogenesis (Eldeen et al, 2010;Ng et al, 2010). However, there has been no report on the phytochemical investigation of this species.…”

Aloe-emodin triggers ROS and Ca 2+ production and decreases the levels of mitochondrial membrane potential of human brain capillary endothelial cells

“…. New anti-angiogenic agents, of treatment and lower toxicity, are being Discovery and study of natural angiogenic activity, capable of controlling the growth of blood vessels, inhibiting metastasis and inducing apoptosis in cancer cells are in particular interest [3,4]. Moreover, natural substances are characterized with low toxicity, low number .…”