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Euphorbia mauritanica and Kedrostis hirtella extracts can induce anti-proliferative activities in lung cancer cells

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Abstract

Cancer is a public health problem in the world accounting for most of the deaths. Currently, common treatment of cancer such as chemotherapy works by killing fast-growing cancer cells. Unfortunately, chemotherapy cannot tell the difference between cancer cells and fast-growing healthy cells, including red and white blood cells. As a result, one of the most serious potential side effects of some types of chemotherapy is a low white blood cell count that makes it unreliable (Parkin et al. [34]; Pauk et al. [3]). Even though intense research has been going on in recent years, successful therapeutic targets against this disease have been elusive. In this study, we evaluate the anti-proliferative activity of Euphorbia mauritanica and Kedrostis hirtella in lung cancer. In our assessment it was observed that E. mauritanica and K. hirtella were able to induce cell death at 5 μg/ml in A549 cells over 22 h and at 10 μg/ml over 24 h in the Lqr1 cell line. Molecular analysis of DNA fragmentation and Annexin V were used to examine the type of cell death induced by E. mauritanica and K. hirtella extracts. These results showed an increase in necrotic and apoptotic characteristics with both nuclear DNA fragmentation and smear. Therefore, these results suggest that E. mauritanica and K. hirtella may play a role in inducing cell death in lung cancer cells. However, further studies need to be conducted to ascertain these results.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the National Research Foundation of South Africa and the University of the Witwatersrand Research Council. We would further like to thank Dr. Mokgoto from the University of Limpopo and Prof. Newman for their assistance with some methods.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Apoptosis and Cancer Genetic Laboratory, School of Molecular Biology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Makhosazana A. Thafeni & Lesetja R. Motadi

  2. Protein Structure-Function Research Unit, School of Molecular Biology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Yasien Sayed

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  1. Makhosazana A. Thafeni
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  2. Yasien Sayed
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  3. Lesetja R. Motadi
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Correspondence to Lesetja R. Motadi.

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Thafeni, M.A., Sayed, Y. & Motadi, L.R. Euphorbia mauritanica and Kedrostis hirtella extracts can induce anti-proliferative activities in lung cancer cells. Mol Biol Rep 39, 10785–10794 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-012-1972-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-012-1972-6

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