Chemical constituents Anti-proliferative activity of resin of C. sphaerocarpa against four human cancer cell lines

Abstract

Myrrh, a resin derived from the Commiphora genus, has traditionally been used for treatment of various human diseases, such as amenorrhea, ache, tumors, fever, stomach pains. In view of this widespread of traditional medicinal use of the myrrh, the pharmacological activity chemical composition many Commiphra species are not well known. The current study pursues to evaluate the cytotoxicity activity of the n-hexane and chloroform fractions from the resin of C. sphaerocarpa obtained by liquid-liquid separation (solvent partitioning). Both the antiproliferative effect chemical compositions were correlated. The identity relative contents of individual constituents of the fractions were analyzed by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry GC-MS. The in vitro cytotoxicity activity of crude extract related solvent fractions of the resin was evaluated in cellular lines of non-small cell lung cancer A549, ovarian cancer A2780, pancreatic cancer MIA-PaCa-2 stomach cancer SNU-638 by SRB assay. The n-hexane fraction showed better apparent cytotoxicity on A549, A2780 SNU-638 cancer cell lines with IC50 value ranging from 9.62 μg/ml to 10.30 μg/ml with dose-dependent relationship in vitro compared to the chloroform fraction. This efficacy might be correlated with the presence of pentacyclic triterpenes such as lupeol, Urs-12-en-3-one, a-amyrin, b-amyrin sesquiterpenes: a-copaene, caryophyllene, humulene, Alloaromadendrene, g-muurolene, g- selinene, b-humulene caryophyllene oxides in resin of the plant. Our findings indicated components of n-hexane fraction of C. sphaerocarpa might be useful to treat aforementioned selected cancers after further studies.

Keywords

• Anti-proliferative activity, Commiphora sphaerocarpa, GC-MS, ovarian cancer pancreatic cancer, stomach cancer, SRB assay