Anticancer activity of Arkeshwara Rasa - A herbo-metallic preparation.
BACKGROUND
Though metal based drugs have been prescribed in Ayurveda for centuries to treat various diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and cancer, toxicity of these drugs containing heavy metal is a great drawback for practical application. So, proper scientific validation of herbo-metallic drugs like Arkeshwara Rasa (AR) have become one of the focused research arena of new drugs against cancers.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the in vitro anticancer effects of AR.


METHODS
Anticancer activity of AR was investigated on two human cancer cell lines, which represent two different tissues (pancreas and skin). Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay for enzyme activity and trypan blue assay for cell morphology were performed for further confirmation.


RESULTS
AR showed potent activity against pancreatic cancer cells (MIA-PaCa-2). LDH activity confirmed that AR was active against pancreatic cancer cells. Finally, it was observed that AR exhibited significant effects on cancer cells due to synergistic effects of different compounds of AR.


CONCLUSIONS
The study strongly suggests that AR has the potential to be an anticancer drug against pancreatic cancer.
Department of Green Bioengineering, Korean National University of Transportation, Chungju, Republic of Korea.
Md
M
Nafiujjaman
Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Korean National University of Transportation, Chungju, Republic of Korea.
Md
M
Nurunnabi
Department of Pharmacy, University of Development Alternative, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Samir Kumar
SK
Saha
Department of Pharmacy, University of Development Alternative, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Rownak
R
Jahan
Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Korean National University of Transportation, Chungju, Republic of Korea.
Yong-Kyu
YK
Lee
Department of Pharmacy, University of Development Alternative, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Mohammed
M
Rahmatullah
Anticancer; Arkeshwara Rasa; natural products