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We investigated the cytotoxic and apoptotic effects of a methanol extract of Centaurea nerimaniae, a plant endemic in Turkey, on HeLa and MDA-MB-231 cells. Eight concentrations of C. nerimaniae extract were applied to cells, and cytotoxic effects were measured using the xCELLigence system. The TUNEL assay was used to assess apoptotic cell death and immunohistochemistry was used to determine active caspase-3 using the effective cytotoxic doses of the extract. Doses of 1.42 mg/ml C. nerimaniae inhibited the growth of HeLa cells and 3.67 mg/ml C. nerimaniae inhibited the growth of MDA-MB-231 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The apoptotic indexes for HeLa and MDA-MB-231 cells were increased significantly compared to control groups. Immunohistochemistry showed that the number of caspase-3 immunostained cells increased in the extract treatment groups for both HeLa and MDA-MB-231 cells. In the MDA-MB-231 cell line, caspase-3 immunostaining was observed in nuclei and/or cytoplasm in the extract treated group. Caspase-3 activation was greater in HeLa cells than in MDA-MB-231 cells. We found that the extract of C. nerimaniae had a strong antiproliferative effect and induced apoptosis via caspase-3; MDA-MB-231 cancer cells were more resistant than HeLa cells.

Purpose: Cancer is a long process that leads the organism to death and is associated with the normal cells acquiring the ability to divide permanently. Nowadays, the use of natural products in cancer therapy has a great importance. In addition, working with plants that are endemic to Turkey and determining the biological activities of these plant extracts, is extremely important due to the potential for new drug development. There is no comparative study available in the literature on the antitumor effects of Colchicum sanguicolle, a new found species of the genus Colchicum in Turkey, Crateagus microphylla, of the genus Crateagus and Centaurea antiochia of the genus Centaurea. In this study, we tried to demonstrate the antitumor effect of these plant extracts on HeLa and C 4-1 cells., Methods: Five different doses (0.001, 0.01, 0.05, 0.25 and 0.5 mg/ml) of the three plant types were prepared and applied for 24, 48 and 72 hrs on the cervical cancer derived cell lines. Subsequently, the growth rate was evaluated with the mitochondrial dehydrogenase enzyme method., Results: Colchicum sanguicolle extracts showed the most effective antitumor activity. For the Colchicum sanguicolle extract, the IC50 dose for HeLa cells was 0.01 mg/ml at 48 hrs, while for the C-4 I cells it was 0.001 mg/ml at 48 hrs. These results showed that C-4 I cells were more sensitive to the Colchicum sanguicolle extracts. Conclus?on: The results of from this study regarding the antitumor effect of plant extracts of endemic varieties of Turkey may have an important place in design and development of anticancer drugs and would make contributions to other studies to be conducted in this area.

Purpose: The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of in vitro anticancer and cytotoxic activity of the methanolic extracts of 14 medicinal plants, 8 of which are endemic species in Anatolia, against the human HeLa cervical cancer cell line and to compare to the normal African green monkey kidney epithelial cell line (Vero) using the MTT colorimetric assay., Methods: Values for cytotoxicity measured by MTT assay were expressed as the concentration that causes 50% decrease in cell viability (IC50, μg/mL). The degree of selectivity of the compounds can be expressed by its selectivity index (SI) value. High SI value (>2) of a compound gives the selective toxicity against cancer cells (SI = IC50 normal cell/IC50 cancer cell)., Results: Dose-dependent studies revealed IC50 of 293 mg/mL and >1000 mg/mL for Cotinus coggygria Scop., IC50 of 265 μg/mL and >1000 mg/mL for Rosa damascena Miller, IC50 of 2 μg/mL and 454 mg/mL for Colchicum sanguicolle K.M. Perss, IC50 of 427 μg/mL and >1000 μg/mL for Centaurea antiochia Boiss. var. praealta (Boiss & Bal) Wagenitz on the HeLa cells and the Vero cells, respectively. Four plants showed significant SI values which were 227 for Colchicum sanguicolle K.M. Perss (endemic species), >3.8 for Rosa damascena Miller, >3.4 for Cotinus coggygria Scop. and >2.3 for Centaurea antiochia Boiss. var. praealta (Boiss & Bal)Wagenitz (endemic species)., Conclusion: According to our study, 4 methanolic extracts of 14 tested plants exhibit greater activity on the HeLa cell line and little activity on the Vero cell line, meaning that these plants can be evaluated for potential promising anticancer activity.