Cytotoxic effect of define concentration of Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) extract used in Iranian traditional medicine on AGS human gastric cancer cell-line

Gastric cancer is one of the main cancer-related death causes in the world threatening almost 12 million human lives by 2020. Achillea millefolium L. (yarrow) with domestic Iranian name of Bumadaran, has been as a curative plant for several medical conditions for a long time. Its antimicrobial and wound healing effects have been reported and in this study, we aimed to survey the in-vitro cytotoxic and anti-cancer effects of this plant. After taxonomically identification of Achillea millefolium L., its hydroalcoholic extract was extracted and the AGS gastric cancer and L-929 normal fibroblastic cell-lines with treated by the different concentrations of extract in 3 time periods (24, 48, and 72 hrs). MTT assay was performed for the evaluation of cytotoxic effects. The 24 hrs treatment did not affect cell survival, notably, while the concentrations of 64 and 16 µg/ml were determined as IC50 concentrations at 48 and 72 hrs incubation times respectively. The 72 hrs incubation time with 16 µg/ml showed the best effectiveness on cancerous cell-line while being safe for normal cell-line. The long-term treatment of AGS cancer cell-line by low concentrations of yarrow extract could be useful for the cytotoxicity upon this type of cancerous cells.