Department of Biotechnology, University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville 7535, Cape Town, South Africa.
Tshwane University of Technology, Faculty of Science, Department of Pharmaceutical Science, Building 4, Arcadia Campus, Pretoria 001, South Africa.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2015 Apr 22;164:203-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2015.01.040. Epub 2015 Feb 13.
Infusions of Tulbaghia violacea (wild garlic) in water are used in traditional medicine in Southern Africa to treat numerous diseases, including cancer. Several studies have previously demonstrated the cytotoxic activities of extracts of T. violacea in cultured cancer cells. Their findings support the potential anti-cancer properties of this plant. However, these studies made use of organic solvent extraction methods, while the traditional use of the plant involves the preparation of infusions in water.
In the current study, we investigated the potential anti-cancer properties of infusions of T. violacea. We also performed a comparative study investigating the cytotoxic activities of T. violacea bulbs and leaves. A panel of four cancer cell lines (HepG2, MCF7, H157, and HT29) and one non-cancerous cell line (KMST6) was treated with the two extracts and the effects of the extracts on the growth of the cells were evaluated. We also investigated whether the growth inhibitory effects were associated with the induction of apoptosis and whether the mechanism of cell death is the result of oxidative stress and the activation of caspase-3.
We found that extracts of the leaves and not the bulbs have growth inhibitory effects and that this is the result of the induction of apoptosis, which is associated with the production of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and the activation of caspase-3. The leaf extract demonstrated variable selective toxicity towards the cancer lines. Although the extract also induced cell death in the non-cancerous cell line (KMST6), we found that the levels of toxicity were lower in this cell line.
this study confirms that infusions of T. violacea have potential anti-cancer activity and that this bioactivity is contained in the leaf extract. This study lends support to claims that this plant can be used to treat cancer.
在南非传统医学中，水培的 Tulbaghia violacea（野蒜）被用于治疗多种疾病，包括癌症。先前有几项研究表明，T. violacea 的提取物在培养的癌细胞中具有细胞毒性活性。他们的研究结果支持这种植物具有潜在的抗癌特性。然而，这些研究使用了有机溶剂提取方法，而植物的传统用途涉及在水中制备浸液。
在当前的研究中，我们研究了 Tulbaghia violacea 浸液的潜在抗癌特性。我们还进行了一项比较研究，调查了 T. violacea 鳞茎和叶子的细胞毒性活性。使用两种提取物处理一组四种癌细胞系（HepG2、MCF7、H157 和 HT29）和一种非癌细胞系（KMST6），评估提取物对细胞生长的影响。我们还研究了生长抑制作用是否与细胞凋亡的诱导有关，以及细胞死亡的机制是否是氧化应激和 caspase-3 激活的结果。
我们发现，叶子的提取物而不是鳞茎的提取物具有生长抑制作用，这是由于细胞凋亡的诱导所致，凋亡与活性氧（ROS）的产生和 caspase-3 的激活有关。叶提取物对癌细胞系表现出可变的选择性毒性。尽管该提取物也诱导了非癌细胞系（KMST6）的细胞死亡，但我们发现该细胞系的毒性水平较低。
本研究证实，T. violacea 浸液具有潜在的抗癌活性，这种生物活性存在于叶提取物中。这项研究支持了该植物可用于治疗癌症的说法。
