Keshava Rohini, Muniyappa Nagesh, Gope Rajalakshmi, Ramaswamaiah Ananthanarayana Saligrama
Department of Studies in Sericulture/Life Sciences, Bangalore University, Bangalore, India E-mail :
Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2016;17(4):1891-8. doi: 10.7314/apjcp.2016.17.4.1891.
Imperata cylindrica, a tall tufted grass which has multiple pharmacological applications is one of the key ingredients in various traditional medicinal formula used in India. Previous reports have shown that I. cylindrica plant extract inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis in various cancer cell lines. To our knowledge, no studies have been published on the effect of I. cylindrica leaf extract on human oral cancers. The present study was undertaken in order to evaluate the anticancer properties of the leaf extract of I. cylindrica using an oral squamous cell carcinoma cell line SCC-9 as an in vitro model system. A methanol extract from dried leaves of I. cylindrica (ICL) was prepared by standard procedures. Effects of the ICL extract on the morphology of SCC-9 cells was visualized by microscopy. Cytotoxicity was determined by MTT assay. Effects of the ICL extract on colony forming ability of SCC-9 cells was evaluated using clonogenic assay. Cell cycle analysis was performed by flow cytometry and induction of apoptosis was determined by DNA fragmentation assay. The ICL extract treatment caused cytotoxicity and induced cell death in vitro in SCC-9 cells in a dose-dependent manner. This treatment also significantly reduced the clonogenic potential and inhibited cell proliferation by arresting the cell cycle in the G2/M phase. Furthermore, DNA fragmentation assays showed that the observed cell death was caused by apoptosis. This is the first report showing the anticancer activity of the methanol extracts from the leaves of I. cylindrica in human oral cancer cell line. Our data indicates that ICL extract could be considered as one of the lead compounds for the formulation of anticancer therapeutic agents to treat/manage human oral cancers. The natural abundance of I. cylindrica and its wide geographic distribution could render it one of the primary resource materials for preparation of anticancer therapeutic agents.
白茅是一种具有多种药理作用的高大丛生草本植物，是印度各种传统药用配方中的关键成分之一。先前的报道表明，白茅植物提取物可抑制多种癌细胞系的细胞增殖并诱导其凋亡。据我们所知，尚未有关于白茅叶提取物对人类口腔癌影响的研究发表。本研究旨在以口腔鳞状细胞癌细胞系SCC - 9作为体外模型系统，评估白茅叶提取物的抗癌特性。通过标准程序制备了白茅干燥叶的甲醇提取物（ICL）。通过显微镜观察ICL提取物对SCC - 9细胞形态的影响。采用MTT法测定细胞毒性。使用克隆形成试验评估ICL提取物对SCC - 9细胞克隆形成能力的影响。通过流式细胞术进行细胞周期分析，并通过DNA片段化试验确定凋亡诱导情况。ICL提取物处理在体外对SCC - 9细胞具有细胞毒性，并以剂量依赖方式诱导细胞死亡。该处理还显著降低了克隆形成潜力，并通过使细胞周期停滞在G2/M期抑制细胞增殖。此外，DNA片段化试验表明观察到的细胞死亡是由凋亡引起的。这是首次报道白茅叶甲醇提取物在人类口腔癌细胞系中的抗癌活性。我们的数据表明，ICL提取物可被视为用于制备抗癌治疗药物以治疗/管理人类口腔癌的先导化合物之一。白茅的自然丰富度及其广泛的地理分布使其成为制备抗癌治疗药物的主要资源材料之一。
