Anticancer and Antioxidant Activities of the Root Extract of the Carnivorous Pitcher Plant .

The carnivorous pitcher plant exhibits many ethnobotanical uses, including the treatments of type 2 diabetes and tuberculosis-like symptoms. In this study, we prepared different extracts from the leaves (pitchers), stems, and roots of and investigated their antioxidant and anticancer properties. To evaluate the extraction efficiency, we individually used different solvents, namely methanol, ethanol, acetone, and distilled water, for extract preparations. The root extract of , obtained by 100% acetone (), had the highest anticancer activities, antioxidation capacity (the DPPH activity with IC of 89.3 ± 2.2 μg/mL), antibacterial activities, total phenolic content (33.4 ± 0.7 mg GAE/g), and total flavonoid content (107.9 ± 2.2 mg QUE/g). The most abundant compounds in were identified using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; 7,8-Dihydro-α-ionone was the major compound present in . In addition, the co-cytotoxicity of (combined with the clinical anticancer drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) on the survival, apoptosis, proliferation, and migration of the 4T1 mammary carcinoma) was examined. The combination of 5-FU with could be highly efficient for anti-4T1 cells. We also found that could inhibit the enzymatic activity of human dihydroorotase (huDHOase), an attractive target for potential anticancer chemotherapy. The sic most abundant compounds in were tested using an in silico analysis via MOE-Dock software for their binding affinities. The top-ranked docking conformations were observed for 7,8-dihydro-α-ionone and stigmast-5-en-3-ol, suggesting the inhibition potential against huDHOase. Overall, the collective data in this study may indicate the pharmacological potentials of for possible medical applications.