Planta Med 2013; 79 - PN89
DOI: 10.1055/s-0033-1352431

Induction of apoptosis in human lung cancer NCI-H226 cells by ethanolic extract of Benjakul preparation and its isolated compound

R Rattarom 1, P Hansakul 2, I Sakpakdeejaroen 3, A Itharat 3
  • 1Student of Doctor of Philosophy, Faculty of Medicine, Thammasat University, Thailand
  • 2Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Thammasat University, Thailand
  • 3Department of Applied Thai Traditional Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Thammasat University, Thailand

Benjakul is a Thai traditional preparation used for lung cancer treatment. It is composed with five plants: Piper chaba fruit [PC], Piper sarmentosum root [PS], Piper interruptum stem [PI], Plumbago indica root [PL] and Zingiber officinale rhizome [ZO]. The previous report, plumbagin as a main component isolated from its ethanolic extract [1]. It also showed the highest cytotoxic against lung cancer cell but it has never been reported about its apoptosis mechanism with human non-small cell lung cancer NCI-H226 cells. Thus, plumbagin and its ethanolic extract were investigated cytotoxic activity against human non-small cell lung cancer NCI-H226 cells by using the sulforhodamine-B (SRB) assay [2], and their apoptosis mechanisms through cell cycle arrest and apoptosis [3]. The ethanolic extract of Benjakul and plumbagin exhibited high cytotoxic activity against NCI-H226 with IC50 values of 13.00 ± 0.72 µg/ml and 0.57 ± 0.16 µg/ml, respectively. Cell cycle analysis showed that both Benjakul (150 µg/ml) and plumbagin (1.5 µg/ml) induced similar G2/M phase arrest at 12h and increased in apoptotic sub-G1 phase in a time-dependent manner. Similarly, annexin V FITC/PI analysis revealed that the percentage of early apoptotic cells increased with the increasing treatment period of Benjakul extract and plumbagin ranging from 1.17% to 33.29% and 0.91% to 22.49%, respectively. The present study showed that Benjakul preparation and plumbagin induced cytotoxicity through cell cycle arrest at G2/M arrest and apoptosis in a time-dependent manner. All these findings provide information on the anticancer mechanisms of Benjakul preparation for the first time, thus these results support its promising traditional use for cancer treatment.

References:

[1] Sakpakdejaroen I and Itharat A 2009J Health Res, 23(2), 71 – 76.

[2] Skehan, P. et al,1990. J National Cancer Institute. 82:1107 – 1112.

[3] Riccardi, C and Nicoletti, I (2006) Nature Protocols,1(3), 1458 – 1461.