Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore, 18 Science Drive 4, Singapore 117543, Singapore.
Department of Paediatrics, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119228, Singapore; Affiliated National University Cancer Institute, National University Health System, Singapore 119074, Singapore.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2019 May 10;235:75-87. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2018.12.040. Epub 2018 Dec 30.
The extensive biodiversity of plants in Southeast Asia and inadequate research hitherto warrant a continued investigation into medicinal plants. On the basis of a careful review of fresh medicinal plant usage to treat cancer from previous ethnobotanical interviews in Singapore and from the traditional uses of the indigenous plants, fresh leaves of seven locally grown medicinal plant species were evaluated for anti-proliferative activity.
To evaluate the anti-proliferative activity of local medicinal plant species Clausena lansium Skeels, Clinacanthus nutans (Burm. f.) Lindau, Leea indica (Burm. f.) Merr., Pereskia bleo (Kunth) DC., Strobilanthes crispus (L.) Blume, Vernonia amygdalina Delile and Vitex trifolia L.
Fresh, healthy and mature leaves of the seven medicinal plants were harvested from various locations in Singapore and Malaysia for Soxhlet, ultrasonication and maceration extractions in three different solvents (water, ethanol and methanol). Cell proliferation assay using water soluble tetrazolium salt (WST-1) assay was performed on twelve human cancer cell lines derived from breast (MDA-MB-231, T47D), cervical (C33A), colon (HCT116), leukemia (U937), liver (HepG2, SNU-182, SNU-449), ovarian (OVCAR-5, PA-1, SK-OV-3) and uterine (MES-SA/DX5) cancer.
A total of 37 fresh leaf extracts from seven medicinal plants were evaluated for their anti-tumour activities in twelve human cancer cell lines. Of these, the extracts of C. lansium, L. indica, P. bleo, S. crispus, V. amygdalina and V. trifolia exhibited promising anti-proliferative activity against multiple cancer cell lines. Further investigation of selected promising leaf extracts indicated that maceration methanolic extract of L. indica was most effective overall against majority of the cancer cell lines, with best IC values of 31.5 ± 11.4 µg/mL, 37.5 ± 0.7 µg/mL and 43.0 ± 6.2 µg/mL in cervical C33A, liver SNU-449, and ovarian PA-1 cancer cell lines, respectively.
The results of this study provide new scientific evidence for the traditional use of local medicinal plant species C. lansium, L . indica, P. bleo, S. crispus, V. amygdalina and V. trifolia in cancer treatment. These results highlight the importance of the upkeep of these indigenous plants in modern society and their relevance as resources for drug discovery.
东南亚植物的广泛多样性和迄今为止不足的研究工作证明有必要继续研究药用植物。在仔细审查了以前在新加坡进行的民族植物学访谈中以及对本地植物的传统用途中有关新鲜药用植物治疗癌症的使用情况的基础上，评估了七种本地生长的药用植物的新鲜叶子的抗增殖活性。
评估本地药用植物物种 Clausena lansium Skeels、Clinacanthus nutans（Burm. f.）Lindau、Leea indica（Burm. f.）Merr.、Pereskia bleo（Kunth）DC.、Strobilanthes crispus（L.）Blume、Vernonia amygdalina Delile 和 Vitex trifolia L. 的抗增殖活性。
从新加坡和马来西亚的不同地点采集七种药用植物的新鲜、健康和成熟叶子，用于 Soxhlet、超声和浸提三种不同溶剂（水、乙醇和甲醇）中的提取。使用水溶性四唑盐（WST-1）测定法对源自乳腺癌（MDA-MB-231、T47D）、宫颈癌（C33A）、结肠癌（HCT116）、白血病（U937）、肝癌（HepG2、SNU-182、SNU-449）、卵巢癌（OVCAR-5、PA-1、SK-OV-3）和子宫癌（MES-SA/DX5）的十二种人类癌细胞系进行细胞增殖测定。
对七种药用植物的 37 种新鲜叶提取物进行了十二种人类癌细胞系的抗肿瘤活性评估。其中，C. lansium、L. indica、P. bleo、S. crispus、V. amygdalina 和 V. trifolia 的提取物对多种癌细胞系表现出有希望的抗增殖活性。对选定的有希望的叶提取物的进一步研究表明，L. indica 的甲醇浸提物总体上对大多数癌细胞系最有效，宫颈 C33A、肝 SNU-449 和卵巢 PA-1 癌细胞系的最佳 IC 值分别为 31.5±11.4μg/mL、37.5±0.7μg/mL 和 43.0±6.2μg/mL。
本研究结果为传统使用本地药用植物物种 C. lansium、L. indica、P. bleo、S. crispus、V. amygdalina 和 V. trifolia 治疗癌症提供了新的科学依据。这些结果强调了在现代社会中维持这些本土植物的重要性以及它们作为药物发现资源的相关性。
