The Cytotoxic Impacts of Natural Plant Extracts on Human Cancer Cells - Research Paper Example

Module The Cytotoxic Impacts of Natural Plant Extracts on Human Cancer Cells According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 585,720 deaths were attributed to cancer in 2014 alone. Considering that 1,665,540 new infections were recorded in the same year, it is understandable why a large percentage of government and private sector healthcare spending goes towards efforts to prevent new infections and develop remedies for treating diagnosed patients. In summary, cancer is a health disaster that requires all possible interventions to mitigate. This study focuses on four plants whose antitumor qualities have yet to be comprehensively probed. The plants were selected based on traditional medicinal usage and application in alternative medicine. They are Artemisia absinthium, Psidium guajava, Melissa officinalis, and Costus speciosus. As part of the study, methanol bark and leaf extracts were obtained from the plants in different concentrations and exposed to various cancer cell lines for 24 hours. The growth of the cancer cell lines was measured against increasing varying concentrations of the plant extracts to determine the effect of extracts on the growth of the human cancer cells. INTRODUCTION Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. This year, the number of new infections is expected to increase despite intensified efforts to prevent and manage the disease. One of the new approaches adopted in cancer prevention and management is the use of natural products. Natural products have been used for centuries to treat various illnesses, and they efficacy has been proven in studies examining the lifestyles of native tribes in the United States, Africa, and Latin America. Currently, natural medicines are used in treating around 87 percent of all known human diseases; these include cancer, bacterial and fungal infections, and immunological defects. It is also estimated that roughly a quarter of all prescription medicines in the world are sourced from plants and over three thousand plant species have anti-carcinogenic properties. This paper, therefore, contributes to the development of this research area by examining the cytotoxic impacts of the aforementioned plants on the growth of human cancer cells. Artemisia absinthium, Psidium guajava, Melissa officinalis, and Costus speciosus have all been analyzed and used for traditional and contemporary medicinal purposes. They have proven their admirable antiparasitic, anti-carcinogenic, antibacterial, and antimicrobial qualities, hence justifying the need for more research on their antitumor attributes. Studies have shown that a significant percentage of people in developing nations depend on plant-based drugs for their fundamental health care needs. METHODS The four plants were gathered from different ecosystems in the United States and a few locations outside the country. The plants’ identities were verified by the researchers to ascertain that they were the ones intended for use in the study. They were then dried in shades and processed to obtain their respective extracts. Various chemicals, including methanol, dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), dichloromethane, newborn calf serum (NBCS), trypsin-EDTA, and n-Hexane were used in the extraction process. The dried plants were dried to obtain between 50 and 200g sizes. They were then ground into fine powder and then effectively extracted using solvents of reducing lipophilicity, aided by a Soxhlet device. This was followed by filtration, evaporation and reduction under pressure o the plant extracts. Finally, they were freeze-dried to obtain the desired amount and quality. Human cancer cells (lines SW620, BT20, A549, and MCF7) were used to perform cytotoxic screening of the four plant extracts. All four cancer cell lines were acquired from the CDC headquarters in Atlanta. Next, the culturing of the cancer cell lines was done using advanced DMEM augmented by ten percent NBCS (inactivated) and L-glutamine (5Mm). They were then grown at thirty-seven degrees Celsius in a humidified setting of five percent CO2 in air. MTT assay was used, with minor alterations, to monitor the cytotoxic effects of the four plants. This was followed by seeding of the cells in ninety-six well plates based on an appropriate density well. After incubation and attachment for 24 hours, the cells were treated with varying concentrations and volumes of the plant extracts for 24 hours. The cells were then washed and incubated with MTT concentrate, followed by lysing using DMSO. A microplate reader was employed in estimating the absorbance, at a 560nm wavelength. Next, the validation of the MTT assay was carried out using different concentrations (between 0.25 and 25%) of DMSO. Extracts exhibiting cytotoxic effects were additionally analyzed at higher concentrations to compute the necessary values. RESULTS Artemisia absinthium Psidium guajava Melissa officinalis Costus speciosus DISCUSSION Artemisia absinthium There is an inversely proportional relationship between Artemisia absinthium concentrations and the growth of the MCF7 cancer cell line, but only between 2.2 and 142 ug/ul. From the results, it appears that the cytotoxic effects of Artemisia are most pronounced at 0.5M Tam (positive control). Psidium guajava Psidium guajava exhibits a pattern identical to Artemisia, with the only difference occurring in the variations. From the graphs, it is safe to conclude that the higher the volume of Psidium guajava, the slower the growth of human cancer cells. This shows that Psidium guajava is more effective compared Artemisia absinthium. In cell line MCF7, this plant extract has a graphic pattern identical to that of cell line A549. In cancer cell line SW620, the graph trend resembles that seen in cell lines MCF7 and A549. The only difference in the three lines’ patterns is the degree of impact. Melissa officinalis The cytotoxic effects of Melissa officinalis on cancer cell line BT20 resembles those observed in the other plant extracts, in that the relationship between extract volumes and cell growth is inversely proportional. The inverse relationship is true up to volumes of 0.5M Tam (positive control), upon which the growth of the cancer cell reduces dramatically. From this volume, the trend normalizes up to volume 0.0 ug/ul (negative control). The trend for A549 is identical to those recorded in the other plant cells in the sense that the relationship between the two variables is inversely proportional. Costus speciosus The results for A549 are identical to those observed in the other three plant extracts (inversely proportional relationship). However, this is where the similarity ends. For Costus speciosus, the growth of the cancerous cells increases steadily as the volumes of the extract reduce up to the negative control when it is at its highest. This is the only extract in the study that maintains a trend before and after the positive control. The conclusions made in A549 apply in SW620. The extract exhibits a novel pattern when it comes to its cytotoxic effects on MCF7. While in the other here extracts cell growth rises consistently as the extract volume reduces up to the negative control, in this extract the a volume of 50 ug/ul leads to cancer cell growth that is below that observed at 100. This is unique in the research. CONCLUSIONS The findings of this study show that Artemisia absinthium, Psidium guajava, Melissa officinalis, and Costus speciosus have cytotoxic and anticarcinogenic properties that limit the growth of human cancer cells. As a result, when developed further, they can be used to prevent the spread of cancer in patients who have been positively diagnosed. Although there are some fluctuations in the two axes, the aim of this study was to examine the effects of the four plant extracts on the growth of human cancer cells, and this has been achieved. Although other plant extracts have been studied for their cytotoxic effects, especially concerning the growth of cancer cells, this research specifically shows that Artemisia absinthium, Psidium guajava, Melissa officinalis, and Costus speciosus have qualities that can be important in cancer prevention and management. Read More