In vitro anticancer activity of Scrophularia amplexicaulis extracts on MCF-7 and WEHI-164 cell line

Authors

  • Samira Valiyari Legal Medicine Research Center, Legal Medicine Organization, Tehran, Iran
  • Elham Beiranvand Department of Biotechnology, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran
  • Azin Samimi Legal Medicine Research Center, Legal Medicine Organization, Ahvaz, Iran
  • Saeid Yaripour Department of Drug and Food Control, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  • Behzad Baradaran Immunology Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
  • Abbas Delazar Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
  • Mehdi Forouzesh Legal Medicine Research Center, Legal Medicine Organization, Tehran, Iran; Tel: +98(21) 77638479; Fax: +98(21) 77643125; E-mail: forouzesh_mehdi@yahoo.com

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17179/excli2020-2737

Keywords:

Scrophularia amplexicaulis, anticancer, cytotoxicity, apoptosis

Abstract

Scrophularia amplexicaulis is an Iranian endemic plant belonging to the Scrophulariaceae family, which is used in traditional medicine to treat many diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vitro anticancer activity of S. amplexicaulis extracts against human breast carcinoma (MCF-7) and mouse fibrosarcoma (WEHI-164) cell lines. The ground aerial parts of S. amplexicaulis were soxhlet-extracted with n-hexane, dichloromethane and methanol. MTT assay exhibited that dichloromethane and methanol extracts remarkably inhibited the growth of MCF-7 and WEHI-164 cancer cells in a dose-and time-dependent manner with little cytotoxicity on normal cell line HUVEC. Cell death ELISA, TUNEL assay, and the cleavage of poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) uncovered that the cytotoxic effects of dichloromethane and methanol extracts were attributed to apoptosis in cancerous cells. Furthermore, quantitative real-time PCR revealed significant increases in the mRNA expression levels of p-53, caspase-3, caspase-9, Bax, and also a decrease in Bcl-2 expression. These results suggested that the extracts mainly induced apoptosis via a mitochondria-mediated intrinsic pathway. Notably, dichloromethane extract had higher cytotoxic and apoptotic activities than that of methanol extract, against both cancer cell lines, particularly MCF-7 cells. Our results indicate that S. amplexicaulis may serve as a promising source of potent agents for the treatment of human cancers.

Published

2020-09-22

How to Cite

Valiyari, S., Beiranvand, E., Samimi, A., Yaripour, S., Baradaran, B., Delazar, A., & Forouzesh, M. (2020). In vitro anticancer activity of Scrophularia amplexicaulis extracts on MCF-7 and WEHI-164 cell line. EXCLI Journal, 19, 1341–1352. https://doi.org/10.17179/excli2020-2737

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Section

Original articles

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