The Phytochemical Profile and Biological Activity of Liquidambar orientalis Mill. var. orientalis via NF-κB and Apoptotic Pathways in Human Colorectal Cancer

Abstract

Liquidambar orientalis Mill. var. orientalis (Hammamelidaceae) commonly known as oriental sweet gum is a medicinal plant endemic to Turkey, and used for treatment of wounds such as ulcers, gastritis and skin diseases. However, there are only a limited number of studies on the anticancer properties of this plant. The aim of this study is to investigate the cellular and molecular mechanisms of L. orientalis in colorectal cancer cell lines and to reveal the active therapeutic components. Antioxidant, anti-proliferative, anti-invasive and apoptotic effects were investigated for determining biological activities. The phytochemical profile and quantitation assays were carried out by using HPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS. The results demonstrated that leaf methanol extract (LM) of L. orientalis has the highest cytotoxic activity in HCT-116 (IC₅₀ 27.80 μg/mL) and HT-29 (IC₅₀ 43.13 μg/mL) cell lines as compared to the other extracts tested. Regarding chemical composition, quercetin 3-glucoside (61.005 ± 1.527 mg/g extract), chlorogenic acid (31.627 ± 0.970 mg/g extract), pyrogallol (9.950 ± 0.001 mg/g extract), epigallocatechin gallate (9.671 ± 0.004 mg/g extract), apigenin 7-O-glucoside (2.687 ± 0.027 mg/g extract), gallic acid (2.137 ± 0.012 mg/g extract), genistin (1.270 ± 0.027 mg/g extract), luteolin (0.055 ± 0.0005 mg/g extract) and kaempferol (0.506 ± 0.007 mg/g extract) were identified as the major phytochemical compounds. Our results showed that LM extract exhibited In Vitro cytotoxic and apoptotic properties.

Acknowledgment

The authors acknowledge the support of University of Ege, Ege-Matal Laboratories, for the chromatographic analysis.

Author Contributions

Sümeyra Çetinkaya: Conceptualization, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing—Original Draft Preparation, Writing—Review & Editing, Visualization. İlknur Çınar Ayan: Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation. İpek Süntar: Investigation, Resources, Writing—Review & Editing. H.Gül Dursun: Resources, Writing—Review & Editing, Supervision

Disclosure Statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Funding

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Necmettin Erbakan University, Institute of Health Sciences with the two projects grant number of 161418002 and 171218020.