Screening for Antitumor and Anti-HIV Activities of Nine Medicinal Plants from Zaire

Abstract

The evaluation of anticancer and anti-HIV activities of extracts from nine medicinal plants collected in Zaire was carried out against the National Cancer Institute (NCI) panel of human tumor cell lines provided for the preliminary screening of natural products. The methanol extracts from the root bark of Hymenocardia acida, the stem bark of Mangifera indica and the leaves of Sida rhombifolia, exhibited cytotoxic activity against the 60 human cell lines tested. Of these, the methanol extract from M. indica produced an interesting pattern of differential cellular sensitivity against the MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-435, and MDA-N human breast cancer cell lines. In the AIDS-antiviral screen, the methanol extract from Jatropha curcas was found to produce a moderate cytoprotective effect against HIV in cultured human lymphoblastoid CEM-SS cells.

Keywords::

• Biological activity
• antitumor
• anti-HIV
• medicinal plants
• Zaire