Department of Immunology, Medical School, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Immunopharmacol Immunotoxicol. 2011 Mar;33(1):34-42. doi: 10.3109/08923971003699018. Epub 2010 Mar 23.
Plants have been shown to possess a number of beneficial anticancer and immunomodulatory properties. In this study the possible in vitro antitumor activity and immunomodulatory effects of five species of Euphorbia, an important genus of Euphorbiaceae, including E. petiolata, E. hebecarpa, E. osyridea, E. microciadia, and E. heteradenia were investigated using cytotoxicity and cell proliferation assays. Among different tumor cell lines, the most sensitive cell line to methanolic extracts of the plants was determined as follows. Hela cervical cancer cells to E. hebecarpa and E. microciadia, K562 leukemia cells to E. petiolata and E. heteradenia, and Fen bladder cancer cells to E. osyridea. The methanolic extracts were then fractionated into hexane, n-butanol, ethyl acetate, and water and the effect of these fractions was tested for cytotoxic activity on the selected cell lines. The results indicated the significant stronger antiproliferatory effect of the hexane factions in all the plants when compared with other ones. The methanolic extracts of the plants were also studied for their effects on the activation of the lymphocytes. All of the extracts showed stimulatory effects on the proliferation of the lymphocytes at lower concentrations. After further fractionation of the extracts, the butanolic and hexane fractions showed the highest activity on the lymphocyte activation. In conclusion, all the plants studied had the capacity to inhibit proliferation of tumor cells with beneficial immunomodulatory effects on the lymphocytes. This dual effect of the plants indicates their value for further investigations as antitumor agents.
植物已被证明具有多种有益的抗癌和免疫调节特性。在这项研究中，使用细胞毒性和细胞增殖测定法，研究了大戟科(Euphorbiaceae)重要属大戟属(Euphorbia)的 5 种植物(E. petiolata、E. hebecarpa、E. osyridea、E. microciadia 和 E. heteradenia)的体外抗肿瘤活性和免疫调节作用。在不同的肿瘤细胞系中，确定对植物甲醇提取物最敏感的细胞系如下：Hela 宫颈癌细胞对 E. hebecarpa 和 E. microciadia，K562 白血病细胞对 E. petiolata 和 E. heteradenia，以及 Fen 膀胱癌细胞对 E. osyridea。然后将甲醇提取物分为正己烷、正丁醇、乙酸乙酯和水馏分，并测试这些馏分对选定细胞系的细胞毒性活性。结果表明，与其他馏分相比，所有植物的正己烷馏分的抗增殖作用显著更强。还研究了植物的甲醇提取物对淋巴细胞激活的影响。所有提取物在较低浓度下均显示出对淋巴细胞增殖的刺激作用。进一步对提取物进行分级分离后，丁醇和正己烷馏分显示出对淋巴细胞激活的最高活性。总之，所有研究的植物都具有抑制肿瘤细胞增殖的能力，并对淋巴细胞具有有益的免疫调节作用。植物的这种双重作用表明它们具有作为抗肿瘤剂进一步研究的价值。
