Cytotoxic effect of chamomile (Matricaria recutita) and marigold (Calendula officinalis) extracts on human melanoma SK-MEL-2 and epidermoid carcinoma KB cells

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the potential anticancer action of extracts prepared from german chamomile (Matricaria recutita L.)and pot marigold (Calendula officinalis L.) to human melanoma and epidermoid carcinoma cells. Sulforhodamine B assay was used to measure the cytotoxic activity of methanolic extracts from flowers of chamomile and marigold. The cytotoxic activity of extract of chamomile flowers on melanoma cells (IC₅₀ value 40.7 μg/ml) was approximately twofold higher than on epidermoid carcinoma cells (IC₅₀ value 71.4 μg/ml). In the present study, the anticancer action of extracts prepared from german chamomile flowers on human melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer cells (SK-MEL-2 melanoma and KB epidermoid carcinoma cells) is described for the first time.

Keywords:

• Matricaria recutita
• Calendula officinalis
• anticancer effect
• human melanoma
• non-melanoma skin cancer

Public Interest Statement

German chamomile is very popular medicinal plants in differents countries, expecially in Europe. The chamomile flowers are used for centuries for their antiinflammatory, anodyne, antimicrobial, antispasmic, calming and anticancer properties. Medicinal properties have made chamomile increasingly popular in the form of tea which is consumed at a rate of even more than one million cups per day. Pot marigold is also wellknown medicinal, as well as ornamental plant. The marigold flowers have been reported to exhibit various biological and medicinal properties, including antiinflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, diaphoretic, antispasmodic, antipyretic, antidiabetic, immunostimulant, antigenotoxic and even anticancer effects. We evaluated the potential anticancer action of extracts prepared from chamomile and marigold to different cancer cells: human melanoma and epidermoid carcinoma cells. The cytotoxic activity of extract of chamomile on melanoma cells was significant, approximately two-fold higher than on epidermoid carcinoma cells. The cytotoxic activity of marigold extracts was low.

Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interest.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the herb farm Kubja Ürditalu for kindly providing the plants material for this study.

Additional information

Funding

Funding. The authors received no direct funding for this research.

Notes on contributors

Ain Raal

Ain Raal has graduated as a pharmacist at the University of Tartu (Estonia), and has completed his PhD in pharmaceutical chemistry and pharmacognosy (“The pharmacognostical study of Matricaria matricarioides of Estonian origin”) at the Institute of Chemistry and Pharmacy of Leningrad (Soviet Union). He is the Head of the Institute of Pharmacy, University of Tartu, Estonia, and the Professor of Pharmacognosy of the same Institute. His main fields of research are pharmacognosy and phytochemistry, history of pharmacy and ethnomedicine, as well as natural medicines in social pharmacy. He has published more than 80 scientific papers in international scientific journals indexed by the Web of Science, Scopus and other databases, more than 130 conference abstracts, as well as 23 textbooks, monographs, handbooks and popular-scientific books such as Pharmacognosy and Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants of the World (in Estonian).