Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Inhibitory effects of methanol extracts of selected plants on the proliferation of two human melanoma cell lines

Alaa Fraihat¹, Luma Alatrash², Reem Abbasi¹, Bashaer Abu-Irmaileh³, Saja Hamed⁴, Mohammad Mohammad², Eman Abu-Rish², Yasser Bustanji^2,3

¹Department of Associate Nursing in Al-Balqa Applied University, Ajloun, Jordan; ²School of Pharmacy, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan; ³Hamdi Mango Center for Scientific Research, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan; ⁴Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The Hashemite University. Al-Zarqa, Jordan.

For correspondence:- Yasser Bustanji Email: bustanji@ju.edu.jo Tel:+9625355000

Accepted: 19 Mar 2018 Published: 30 June 2018

Citation: Fraihat A, Alatrash L, Abbasi R, Abu-Irmaileh B, Hamed S, Mohammad M, et al. Inhibitory effects of methanol extracts of selected plants on the proliferation of two human melanoma cell lines. Trop J Pharm Res 2018; 17(6):1081-1086 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v17i6.15

© 2018 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the in vitro antiproliferative activity of methanol extracts of six plants regardless of their claimed ethnopharmacological application.

Methods: Methanol extracts of different parts of Glycyrrhiza glabra L. Licorice), Matricaria chamomilla L. (Chamomile), Salvia triloba L. (Sage), Rheum palmatum L. (Rhubarb), Trigonella foenum-graecum L (Fenugreek) and Sambucus ebulus L. (Dwarf Elder)were prepared. The antiproliferative effects of the extracts weretestedon two skin cancer melanoma cell lines namely A375.S2 (low tyrosinase expression) and WM 136.1A (high tyrosinase expression) using MTT assay.The IC50 values for the active extracts were determined against the two melanoma cell lines.

Results: The methanol extracts of G. glabra, M. chamomilla, S.triloba, R. palmatum inhibited the melanotic WM1361A proliferation in a dose-dependent manner revealing IC₅₀ values of 35.2, 25.2, 20.6, 17.8, µg/ml, respectively but not A375.S2 cell line. However, the extracts of T. foenum-graecum and S. ebulus did not exhibit any significant cytotoxic activity on both melanoma cell lines.

Conclusion: Methanol extracts of Licorice, Chamomile, Sage and Rhubarb have significant antiproliferative activity on WM1361A cell line; a representative human melanotic melanocyte tumor cell line. This renders these plants as potential sources of new lead compounds for the development of new drugs for melanoma cancer.

Keywords: Melanoma, Plant extract, tyrosinase, Licorice, Chamomile, Sage, Rhubarb, WM1361A.