Potential of Aucklandia lappa Decne ethanolic extract to trigger apoptosis of human T47D and HeLa cells

Breast and cervical cancers are global health concerns and major cause of deaths among women. Current treatments such as chemotherapy are associated with several drawbacks that limit their effectiveness. Several anticancer remedies have been found with natural products in the past and the search continues for more examples. Cytotoxic natural compounds may have considerable benefits for cancer therapy either in potentiating the impact of chemotherapy or curtailment of harmful effects. Therefore, discovery and identification of new drugs for breast and cervical cancer treatment are of high priority. The present study addressed the potential role of the ALD (Aucklandia lappa Decne) in suppressing proliferation of T-47D, HeLa and HEp-2 cells in comparison with the non-cancer HCC1937 BL cell line. Treatment with an ALD extract of T-47D, HeLa, and HEp-2 cells resulted in reduction in cell viability in MMT assays. Furthermore, lyophilized ALD principally suppressed cancer cell line growth and proliferation through induction of either intrinsic or extrinsic apoptotic pathways as demonstrated by significantly suppressed release of LDH, and NO production in a dose-dependent manner, and activation of death receptors in T-47D and HeLa cells but not the HEp-2 cell line. Interestingly, lyophilized ALD significantly (p < 0.005) repressed the growth of HEp-2 and T-47D cells after treatment for 48hrs while 24hrs treatment significantly suppressed T-47D and HeLa cells. We report for the first time that lyophilized ALD selectively influences apoptosis through alternative apoptotic pathways in both breast and cervical human cancer cells.