title: Cytotoxicity of medicinal plants of the West-Canadian Gwich׳in Native Americans towards sensitive and multidrug-resistant cancer cells.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Traditional medicine of the Native Americans has a long tradition of medicinal plants, which also influenced modern oncology. For instance, podophyllotoxin the active ingredient of Podophyllum peltatum L. (Berberidaceae) used by Native Americans to treat warts led to the development of etoposide and teniposide. In the present investigation, we studied 10 medicinal plants used by the Gwich׳in First Nation of West-Canada, which have been used against diverse diseases including cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sensitive and multidrug-resistant (MDR) tumor cell lines expressing various ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters (P-glycoprotein/ABCB1/MDR1, MRP1/ABCC1, or BCRP/ABCG2) have been used. Cytotoxicity was determined by the resazurin assay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Arctium minus Bernh. (Asteraceae). Lysichiton americanus Hultén & St. John (Araceae), and Maianthemum dilatatum (Alph.Wood) A.Nelson & J.F.Macbr.(Asparagaceae) were cytotoxic with IC50 values ranging from 2.40 to 86.35 µg/mL. The MDR cell lines did not exert cross-resistance to these extracts.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As these medicinal plants of the West-Canadian Gwich׳in First Nation were not involved in classical drug resistance mechanisms and might therefore be valuable to bypass anticancer drug resistance in refractory tumors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, Institute of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany; Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Biology Department, Burdur, Turkey.
authors.forename: Asuman
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Karadeniz
authors.affiliation: Fort McPerson, Northwest Territories, Canada.
authors.forename: Gladys
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Alexie
authors.affiliation: Abel Salazar Biomedical Sciences Institute, University of Porto, Portugal; Heidelberg School of Chinese Medicine, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Henry Johannes
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Greten
authors.affiliation: Wilderness International, Dresden, Germany; Wilderness International, Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Andersch
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, Institute of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany. Electronic address: efferth@uni-mainz.de.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Efferth
mesh_terms: D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters / Q000235:genetics*; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D029064:Araceae; D031170:Arctium; D002170:Canada; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D018432:Drug Resistance, Multiple / Q000187:drug effects; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American; D019668:Liliaceae; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal
chemical_list: D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D010936:Plant Extracts
keywords: ABC transporter; Cancer; First nations; Multidrug resistance; Pharmacognosy