Abstract
The present work aimed to investigate the anticancer in vitro activity of two plants commonly used in traditional Indian medicine: Zingiber officinale Roscoe and Nerium oleander L. The extracts of these plants were tested in vitro on several human leukemic cell lines, K562, THP-1, MOLT-4 and Jurkat. Cell growth inhibition was observed for both plant extracts with 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) values ranging between 1 and 28 μg/mL using SRB (sulphorodamine B) and MTT [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide] assays. Enhanced cell growth inhibition was observed when the extracts were combined with imatinib. Exposed cells showed cell cycle arrest, DNA damage and cytochrome c release, indicating that the mechanism of cytotoxicity could be via mitochondrial mediated apoptotic pathways. Combination of the extracts of these plants with standard cancer treatment may be a way of enhancing responses. Clinical studies in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia are planned at our center.
Acknowledgement
The authors are thankful to the University Grant Commission for providing a Fellowship to Shipra Bhargava, and the Cancer Education and Research Trust, Jaipur, for funding for reagents and travel.
Potential conflict of interest
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