European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

For centuries, plants are known to play part in the daily routine from providing food to the management of human health. During the last few decades, diverse phytochemicals have been characterized as agents that possess a potential to execute cancer cells. The oil extracted from the root of Saussurea costus; has been used in traditional medicine for a long time. Purpose: This study was carried out to assess the effect of Saussurea lappa aqueous extract on five different cell lines; Human Lung Fibroblast cells (MRC5), Human Dermal Fibroblast adult (HDFa), Madin-Darby Canine Kidney cells (MDCK), breast cancer cells (MCF7) and human colonic cancer (Caco2). Results: On normal cell lines; the extract showed cytotoxic activities with the half maximal inhibitory concentration; IC50 values, ranging from 0.85 to 2.5 mg/ml whereas MRC5 was the most sensitive cell line (IC50 values: 0.85). On malignant cell lines; MCF7 cells showed inhibition in cell proliferation with activity from 67.17% to 91.01% by the extract treatment concentration 0.50 to 2.0 mg/dl. However, Caco2 cells exhibited inhibition in proliferation ranging from 37.10% to 69.45% by the same treatment dose. Thus, breast cancer cells were more sensitive than colon cancer cells to Saussurea costus extract. The genotoxic potentialities of the crude extract showed increase in expression of proapoptotic genes; P53, IκBα, BAX and TNF and decrease in the expression of antiapoptotic genes; Bcl2, Survivin, and MMP-7. Conclusion: Our work pointed out that Saussurea lappa extract could be a potential candidate that has the capability to fight cancer.