Inhibitory Effects of Rosemary Extracts, Carnosic Acid and Rosmarinic Acid on the Growth of Various Human Cancer Cell Lines

Abstract

The leaves of Rosmarinus officinalis harvested from three different locations of Turkey were extracted by both methanolic and supercritical CO(2) extraction. Subsequently, six extracts and the active compounds, carnosic acid, and rosmarinic acid were applied to various human cancer cell lines including NCI-H82 (human, small cell lung, carcinoma), DU-145 (human, prostate, carcinoma), Hep-3B (human, black, liver, carcinoma, hepatocellular), K-562 (human chronic myeloid leukemia), MCF-7 (human, breast, adenocarcinoma), PC-3 (human, prostate, adenocarcinoma) and MDA-MB-231 (human, breast, adenocarcinoma) by MTT assay. Supercritical CO(2) extracts had superior antiproliferative effect compared to the soxhlet extracts. Although the extracts exhibited various cytotoxic effects against different cell lines, comparatively low IC(50) values ranging between 12.50 and 47.55 microg/ml were attained against K-562, being the most sensitive cell line. Moreover, carnosic acid caused the lowest cell viability with values ranging from 13 to 30 % at a concentration of 19 muM after 48 h of treatments, resulting in superior antiproliferative effect. Rosemary extract is a potential candidate to be included in the anti-cancer diet with pre-determined doses avoiding toxicity.

Effect of rosemary polyphenols on human colon cancer cells: transcriptomic profiling and functional enrichment analysis

“…For instance, studies with carnosic acid showed that concentrations of 6.25 lg/mL reduced between 13 and 30 % the viability of different types of tumor cells (Yesil-Celiktas et al 2010). Similar effects have been reported for carnosic acid on viability of five human cancer cell lines (Gigante et al 2003).…”

“…Similar effects have been reported for carnosic acid on viability of five human cancer cell lines (Gigante et al 2003). To the opposite, concentrations of rosmarinic acid ranging from 6.25 to 50 lg/mL (139 lM) showed proliferative effects rather than cytotoxic activity (Yesil-Celiktas et al 2010). Carnosol exhibited growth inhibition 50 % (GI 50 ) values ranging from 3.6 to 26 lM in five tumor cells (Guerrero et al 2006).…”

Cytotoxicity of aqueous extracts of Rosmarinus officinalis L. (Labiatae) in plant test system

“…Several researches on the antiproliferative effect of rosemary were developed in recent years, such as Yesil-Celiktas et al (2010) who evaluated the activity of aqueous and alcoholic extracts of R. officinalis leaf, at concentrations from 12.50 to 47.55 mg/mL on human cell lines NCI-H82 (lung carcinoma) DU-145 (prostate carcinoma), Hep-3B (hepatocellular carcinoma), K-562 (chronic myelogenous leukemia) and MCF-7 (breast adenocarcinoma) and verified that rosemary significantly inhibited cell division in all these cells. Similarly, Tai et al However, all studies reported on R. officinalis antiproliferative activity have had the cells of their testsystems treated with some clastogenic drug (and so some damage to the genetic material).…”

“…The statistical analysis of the data was carried out by the Chi-square test at 5% significance using the software BioEstat (Ayres, 2007). The antiproliferative role of this plant is attributed to the activity of rosmarinidifenol, rosmariquinone and rosmanol (Yesil-Celiktas et al, 2010). According to Visanji et al (2006), high concentrations of these terpenes disrupt the cell cycle in the G 2 phase of the interphase, by interrupting the cytoplasm replication and the onset of chromosome condensation.…”

Essential oil of <i>Thymus vulgaris</i> L. and <i>Rosmarinus officinalis</i> L.: Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis, cytotoxicity and antioxidant properties and antibacterial activities against foodborne pathogens

“…The anticarcinogenic activity of rosemary is due to the major bioactive compounds such as 1,8-cineole, camphor, and α-pinene [44]. In a similar study where compounds extracted from R. officinalis were tested on various cancer cell lines, such as NCI-H82 (small lung carcinoma), DU-145 (prostate carcinoma), Hep3D (liver carcinoma), K-562 (chronic myelois carcinoma), MCF-7, (breast adenocarcinoma), PC-3 (prostate adenocarcinoma) and MDA-MB-231 (breast adenocarcinoma) the IC 50 values ranged from 8.82 μg/mL to over 100 μg/mL [45].…”