title: Evaluation of native and exotic Brazilian plants for anticancer activity.
abstract: Native and exotic Brazilian plants collected in the State of Minas Gerais were evaluated for their anticancer potential. Methanol extracts from leaves of 51 plant species were tested for cytotoxicity against four tumor cell lines: B16 (murine skin), HL-60 (human leukemia), MCF-7 (human breast), and HCT-8 (human colon). Plant extracts that exhibited IC(50) values less than 30 microg/ml against any tumor cell line were tested on sea urchin egg development and mouse erythrocytes. In addition, all extracts were evaluated for their general toxicity using the brine shrimp lethality assay. The most active extracts against the tumor cells were those obtained from Lantana fucata, Copaifera langsdorffii, and Momordica charantia. These three extracts inhibited sea urchin development from the first cleavage, but those from C. langsdorffii and M. charantia were very active against mouse erythrocytes. Only the L. fucata extract presented no hemolytic activity. Consequently, although the extracts of L. fucata, M. charantia, and C. langsdorffii could be useful in the development of new anticancer products, the first of these extracts is the most promising since it did not present unspecific toxicity, as suggested by negative results obtained with brine shrimp lethality and mouse erythrocytes assays.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Federal University of Lavras, Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil. martinssantosjr@yahoo.com.br
authors.forename: Helvécio Martins
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: dos Santos Júnior
authors.forename: Denilson Ferreira
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: Douglas Antônio
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: de Carvalho
authors.forename: Joyce Mendes Andrade
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Pinto
authors.forename: Viviane Aparecida Costa
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Campos
authors.forename: Ana Raquel Braga
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Mourão
authors.forename: Cláudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pessoa
authors.forename: Manoel Odorico
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: de Moraes
authors.forename: Letícia Veras
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Costa-Lotufo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001156:Artemia; D001938:Brazil; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical / Q000379:methods; D018922:HL-60 Cells; D006801:Humans; D008546:Melanoma, Experimental / Q000188:drug therapy; D051379:Mice; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010946:Plants, Medicinal
chemical_list: D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; D010936:Plant Extracts