Antiproliferative effect of the methanol extract from the roots of Petasites japonicus on Hep3B hepatocellular carcinoma cells in vitro and in vivo

Abstract

Abstract. Traditional medicinal plants have been used in the treatment of various diseases for centuries. A number of plant-derived compounds have been proposed as anticancer agents and are currently undergoing medical development. Petasites japonicus (PJ), also known as Butterbur, is a herb cultivated in East Asia that is used as a traditional herbal medicine. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether a methanol extract of PJ demonstrated anticancer activity against Hep3B hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. The anticancer property and underlying mechanism of the extract were evaluated by assessing the effect on cell viability, nuclear morphology and the expression of phosphorylated (p)-mTOR, p-Akt, β-catenin and p-glycogen synthase kinase-3β, which are markers for cancer cell proliferation and metastasis. These results were obtained by the MTT assay, fluorescence microscopy and Western blot analysis. The methanol extract of PJ was shown to decrease the cell viability in a concentration-dependent manner. In addition, the methanol extract of PJ was found to inhibit the growth of Hep3B HCC cells through inhibiting the Akt/mTOR and Wnt signaling pathways. These results suggest that the methanol extract of PJ exerts an anticancer effect on Hep3B HCC cells.

Anti-cancer effect of Petasites hybridus L. (Butterbur) root extract on breast cancer cell lines

“…In this regard, the DAPI staining confirmed our findings for the selective sensitivity of Butterbur root extracts to cancer and non-cancerous cell lines. The relationship between decreased cell viability and induced apoptosis was confirmed by Kim et al [26] for Hep3B cells. The authors showed that apoptosis was induced by inhibition the Akt/mTOR and Wnt signalling pathways.…”

Changes in the phenolic compounds profile, antioxidant and anti-melanogenic activity from organs of Petasites japonicas under different extraction methods

“…In addition, autoclave-assisted extraction (AAE), and MAE have been recognized as green extraction technologies, which are suitable when high extraction efficiency is required in a short time (Suh et al, 2017;Vallejo-Castillo et al, 2019). However, only extraction with organic solvents has been reported for P. japonicus (Kang et al, 2010;Kang et al, 2015;Kim et al, 2015;Choi et al, 2017b). Although these findings demonstrated the potential P. japonicus as a crude drug and dietary health supplement, there are limited studies on the variation in the chemical composition and biological activities of P. japonicus with the use of different extraction methods.…”

In vivo induction of hepatocellular carcinoma by diethylnitrosoamine and pharmacological intervention in Balb C mice using Bergenia ciliata extracts

“…Numerous naturally occurring compounds from plants are being used as anticancerous agents and are currently undergoing medical development. Many plants like Petasites japonicas (Kim et al, 2015), Amorphophallus campanulatus (Ansil et al, 2012), Curcuma aromatic (Li et al, 2014), Panax ginseng, Salvia miltiorrhiza (Wang et al, 2012), Tripterygium wilfordii (Chen et al, 2012), Astragalus (Chen et al, 2011) and many other plants are used against HCC as an anticancerous agents with low toxicity. Bergenia ciliata (BC) belongs to family Saxifragaceae has various medicinal properties.…”