Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
Planta Med. 2011 Nov;77(16):1788-93. doi: 10.1055/s-0030-1271157. Epub 2011 Jun 14.
Although dihydroartemisinin (DHA) and other artemisinin derivatives have selective toxicity towards cancer cells, Artemisia annua (A. annua) extracts containing artemisinin have not been evaluated for their anticancer potential. Our main goal was to assess the anticancer effect of ethanolic leaf extracts of A. annua from Brazilian and Chinese origins (with DHA as a comparison) on normal and cancer cells. Leukocytes and leukemia (Molt-4) cells were counted at 0, 24, 48, and 72 hr after treatment with extracts having artemisinin concentrations of 0, 3.48, 6.96, and 13.92 µg/mL. Also, we assessed the antioxidant capacity of these extracts using the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) test. Both extracts had high antioxidant capacity and toxicity towards Molt-4 cells. DHA was significantly more potent (p < 0.05) in killing Molt-4 cells than Brazilian extract at 48 and 72 hr and Chinese extract at 72 hr. In Molt-4 cells, LD₅₀ values for Brazilian and Chinese extracts were comparable at all time points and not significantly different from DHA at 24 hr. In leukocytes, DHA, Chinese extract, and Brazilian extract had LD₅₀ values of 760.42, 13.79, and 28.23 µg/mL of artemisinin, respectively, indicating a better safety index for the Brazilian extract compared to that of the Chinese extract at 24 hr. However, at 48 and 72 hr, the toxicity in leukocytes for any of the treatment groups was not significantly different. These experiments suggest that these extracts may have potential application in cancer treatment.
虽然二氢青蒿素（DHA）和其他青蒿素衍生物对癌细胞具有选择性毒性，但尚未评估含有青蒿素的青蒿（A. annua）提取物的抗癌潜力。我们的主要目标是评估来自巴西和中国的青蒿叶乙醇提取物（以 DHA 作为比较）对正常细胞和癌细胞的抗癌作用。在用含有 0、3.48、6.96 和 13.92µg/mL 青蒿素浓度的提取物处理后，在 0、24、48 和 72 小时分别对白细胞和白血病（Molt-4）细胞进行计数。此外，我们使用氧自由基吸收能力（ORAC）试验评估了这些提取物的抗氧化能力。两种提取物均具有高抗氧化能力和对 Molt-4 细胞的毒性。DHA 在 48 和 72 小时以及中国提取物在 72 小时时对 Molt-4 细胞的杀伤作用明显强于巴西提取物（p<0.05）。在 Molt-4 细胞中，巴西提取物和中国提取物在所有时间点的 LD₅₀ 值均相当，与 24 小时的 DHA 无显著差异。在白细胞中，DHA、中国提取物和巴西提取物的 LD₅₀ 值分别为 760.42、13.79 和 28.23µg/mL 青蒿素，表明与中国提取物相比，巴西提取物在 24 小时时具有更好的安全性指数。然而，在 48 和 72 小时时，任何治疗组的白细胞毒性均无显著差异。这些实验表明，这些提取物可能具有在癌症治疗中的潜在应用。
