Journal of King Saud University: Science (Oct 2022)

Phytochemicals from Corchorus olitorius methanolic extract induce apoptotic cell death via activation of caspase-3, anti-Bcl-2 activity, and DNA degradation in breast and lung cancer cell lines

  • Ali Mohamed Alshabi,
  • Saad Ahmed Alkahtani,
  • Ibrahim Ahmed Shaikh,
  • Mohamed A.A. Orabi,
  • Basel A. Abdel-Wahab,
  • Ismail A. Walbi,
  • Mohammed S. Habeeb,
  • Masood Medleri Khateeb,
  • Joy H. Hoskeri,
  • Arun K. Shettar,
  • Syed Mohammed Basheeruddin Asdaq

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 34, no. 7
p. 102238

Abstract

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Objectives: The main objective of the present research is to provide GC–MS and LC-MS phytochemcial profiling of Corchorus olitorius along with Flow cytometry based mechanistic investigation of cytotoxic activity of its extracts against breast and lung cancer cell lines. Methods: The Soxhlet extraction method was used in the sequential extraction of C. olitorius. The phytochemical profiling was done using LC-MS and GC–MS techniques, and total phenolic and flavonoid content was determined. The cytotoxicity was studied against non-cancerous L929 cells and cancerous MCF-7 and A549 cell lines using MTT assay, followed by flow cytometry based molecular mechanisms study through anti-Bcl-2 assay, Caspase-3, and DNA fragmentation (TUNEL assay). Results: The C. olitorius methanolic extract showed the phenolic compounds and flavonoids as a major constituents with 699 µg GAE/g of dw and 1361.50 µg QE/g of dw, respectively. The GC–MS and LC-MS results confirmed the presence of active phytochemicals. Toxicity study against L929 cell line revealed that methanol extract proved to be less toxic with a higher IC50 value i.e. 227.84 µg/ml. Cell viability MTT assay for methanol extract against MCF-7 and A549 cell lines revealed significant results with IC50 values of 20 µg/ml and 12.45 µg/ml, respectively. The flow cytometry based molecular marker studies showed that the extract successively induced early and late apoptosis in tested breast and lung cancer cells through activation of Caspase-3 with inhibition of Bcl-2 protein and induced cell death through DNA damage. Conclusion: Collectively, these findings show that the methanol extract of C. olitorius inhibits breast cancer and lung cancer cell lines with significant cytotoxic activity. Thus, C. olitorius would be a promising source of chemopreventive agents that warrant further investigation to find lead compounds with cancer chemotherapeutic potential.

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