In vitro anticancer activities of Withania coagulans against HeLa, MCF-7, RD, RG2, and INS-1 cancer cells and phytochemical analysis

Abstract

BackgroundThe Pakistani Salt Range has a rich floral diversity including Withania coagulans from the Solanaceae family.MethodsThe crude methanolic extracts of the root, leaf, leaf stalk, and fruit of this plant were screened for their cytotoxic activity against human (HeLa, MCF-7, RD) and rat (RG2 and INS-1) cancer cell lines at 20 μg/mL and compared to methotrexate. The IC50 values indicated that leaf stalk and fruit extracts exert an 80% or higher cytotoxic activity against all cell lines at 24 hours.ResultsThe leaf stalk extract showed the highest cytotoxic efficacy against all tested cell lines, with IC50 values ranging from 0.96 ± 0.01 μg/mL to 4.73 ± 0.05 μg/mL followed by the fruit extract with IC50 values of 0.69 ± 0.01–6.69 ± 0.06 μg/mL after 48–72 hours incubation. The leaf stalk and seed extracts were analyzed for polyphenols and flavonoids using RP-HPLC. The total flavonoid content (TFC) was calculated for all tested samples, and the highest TFC was recorded for the root extract (394.34 ± 1.26 μg/g). The total phenolic content (TPC) was found in the seed extract (307.86 ± 9.42 μg/g) of W. coagulans. The highest contents of myricetin (358.46 ± 2.91 μg/g) were noted in the leaf extract, and highest quercetin was recorded in the seed extract (21.43 ± 0.13 μg/g). The highest gallic acid concentration (83.62 ± 0.71 μg/g) was recorded in leaf stalk extract and p-hydroxybenzoic acid in the seed extract (157.46 ± 1.43 μg/g).ConclusionThe present study gives a scientific insight and comparative analysis of various plant parts in this medicinally important plant species from the Salt Range of Pakistan against both human and rat cancer cells.

Comparison of Anticancer Activity and HPLC-DAD Determination of Selected Isoquinoline Alkaloids from Thalictrum foetidum, Berberis sp. and Chelidonium majus Extracts

“…A large number of plant metabolites are utilized against various diseases, including cancer [2,3]. The herbal medicines have played an important role in the prevention and treatment of cancer, which execute their multiple therapeutic effects by inhibiting cancer activating enzymes and hormones, promoting the production of protective enzymes, inducing antioxidant action and enhancing immunity, stimulating DNA repair mechanism, thus showing an anticancer effect.…”

Investigation of bioactive compounds in Crassocephalum rubens leaf and in vitro anticancer activity of its biosynthesized gold nanoparticles

“…Cancer therapy of plant origin is at the forefront due to naturally inherent compounds that are readily available, less toxic, and cost-effective. Compounds, including saponins, phenols, and glycosides have reportedly been used in chemotherapy [ 31 ]. Qualitative phytochemical screening of this study ( Table 4 ) confirmed the presence of these compounds in C. rubens and is similar to the findings of Ojo and Adenegan-Alakinde [ 18 ], except the absence of tannins, which may be due to extraction solvent (alcohol) they used.…”

In vitro anticancer activity of Scrophularia amplexicaulis extracts on MCF-7 and WEHI-164 cell line

“…Over the last few years, medicinal plant-based therapeutics have gained great attention in the treatment of cancer as they are more cost effective, natural, readily available and exhibit fewer undesirable side effects. In addition, the potential of plant-derived compounds to induce cellular apoptosis constitute a key event in anticancer activities of medicinal plants (Desai et al, 2008[ 8 ]; Maqsood et al, 2018[ 20 ]; Ahmed et al, 2019[ 2 ]). Herein, we performed a pilot study to firstly examine the cytotoxic and apoptotic effects of various extracts of S. amplexicaulis on cancer cell lines MCF-7, WEHI-164 and normal cell line HUVEC.…”