Antiproliferative Activity of the Methanolic Extract of Withania Somnifera Leaves from Faifa Mountains, Southwest Saudi Arabia, against Several Human Cancer Cell Lines.
Cancer represent one of the most serious health problems and major causes of death around the world. Many anticancer drugs in clinical use today are natural products or derived from natural sources. Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal is a small shrub widely distributed in many parts of the world including Saudi Arabia. The antiproliferative activities of the methanolic extract of W. somnifera leaves collected from Faifa mountains, southwest Saudi Arabia against MCF-7, HCT116 and HepH2 cell lines were investigated. The extract showed a strong antiproliferative activity against all cell lines with IC50 values of 3.35, 2.19 and 1.89 μg/ml, respectively. Flow cytometry results showed that the extract arrested the cell cycle at S phase, and the increase in the caspase 3 activity suggested that the extract could induce cell apoptosis by a caspase mediated pathway. These results demonstrated that the methanolic extract of W. somnifera leaves collected from Faifa mountains has comparable strong antiproliferative activities to samples collected from different locations.
Biology Department, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, Abha, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia E-mail : alfaifi@kku.edu.sa.
Mohammad Yahya
MY
Alfaifi
Kamel Ahmed
KA
Saleh
Mohammed Atallah
MA
El-Boushnak
Serag Eldin I
SE
Elbehairi
Mohammed Ali
MA
Alshehri
Ali Abdullah
AA
Shati
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000187:drug effects; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects*; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D000432:Methanol / Q000737:chemistry*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry*; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D032341:Withania / Q000737:chemistry*
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D010936:Plant Extracts; D000432:Methanol