Cervicare™ induces apoptosis in HeLa and CaSki cells through ROS production and loss of mitochondrial membrane potential

• Main Authors: Amini, Neda, Abdul Majid, Fadzilah Adibah, Marvibaigi, Mohsen, Supriyanto, Eko, Jaganathan, Saravana Kumar, Tet Soon, Wong Tet, Nasiri, Rozita, Hamzehalipour, Javad
• Format: Article
• Published: Royal Society of Chemistry 2016
• Subjects: QH Natural history
• Online Access: http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/74244/; https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84960193877&doi=10.1039%2fc5ra25654b&partnerID=40&md5=195e4979ccd7fced4e4f286dbaffc3aa

Cervicare™ is a poly-herbal preparation comprised of a combination of 6 plants; most have demonstrated antimicrobial and anticancer properties in preclinical studies. The effect of the ethanol and aqueous extracts of Cervicare™ on cell proliferation and apoptosis using cervical cancer HeLa and CaSki cells was investigated for the first time in the present study. MTT assay results showed that Cervicare™ extracts exerted time- and dose-dependent inhibition of cell viability. The hallmark properties of apoptosis like cell shrinkage and cytoplasmic condensation were observed using an inverted phase contrast microscope, ethidium bromide/acridine orange and Hoechst 33342/propidium iodide fluorescent staining methods. Furthermore, our results demonstrated that Cervicare™ extracts induced apoptosis in HeLa and CaSki cells by ROS generation and mitochondrial depolarization in a concentration dependent manner. The results showed that Cervicare™ extracts were capable of suppressing cell migration and inhibiting colony formation in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, western blot analysis demonstrated the involvement of a mitochondria-dependent apoptosis pathway in the apoptosis inducing activity of Cervicare™ ethanol extract in HeLa cells. GC-MS analysis of the ethanolic extract afforded the identification of 40 substances, showing that it was primarily composed of anti-cancerous compounds such as xanthorrhizol (60.40%), octacosane (9.93%) and squalene (1.24%). Together, these results point out the Cervicare™ mediated inhibition of HeLa cell growth via induction of apoptosis and that it may be a potential anticancer agent which deserves further investigation.