Taraxacum officinale: Potential antitumor agent against cervical cancer

VENEZUELA F; MUGAS ML; KIGUEN X; MOSMANN J; MONETTI M; KONIGHEIM BS; NÚÑEZ MONTOYA SC; CUFFINI C

Buenos Aires

Congreso; Reunión Anual de SAFE; 2016

Sociedad Argentina de Farmacologia Experimental

Natural compounds are the foundation of pharmacological treatments and more than 50% of all anticancer drugs are of natural origins or at least derived from compounds present in Nature. Taraxacum officinale G. Weber ex F.H. Wigg. (Familia), popular known as ?dandelion? has been shown to exert diverse biological activities, including apoptosis in leukemia and melanoma cell lines. In this study, we investigated the in vitro cytotoxicity and antiproliferative actions of T. officinale extracts in cervical cancer cell lines, with the aim of evaluating their possible use as alternative or complementary cancer treatments.Ethanolic extracts were prepared from of aerial parts and roots: Ap-EtOH and R-EtHO. The T. officinale latex (L) was obtained from the roots directly. The extracts were concentrated to dryness. Both extracts and latex were dissolved in DMSO (100 µg/mL). The study was conducted on cervical cancer cell lines (Caski and Hela) and normal keratinocyte HaCaT. All cell lines were incubated with 15 different concentrations (10-1000 µg/ml)for triplicate, of each extract and latex. After 72 h incubation, cytotoxicity was assessed using the MTT dye. Cell morphology was observed using an inverted fluorescence microscope and apoptotic morphological changes were detected by Hoechst staining. Doxorubicin 5µM was use as a positive control.Both extracts and latex showed a dose-dependent cytotoxic effect in all cell lines. The order of cytotoxicity was R-EtOH> L> Ap_EtOH.R-EtOH and L were more cytotoxic in Hela and Caski that in HaCaT. The viability reduction was dependent on exposure time for R-EtOH and L. Fluorescence microscopy showed apoptotic morphological changes, such as fragmentation and chromatin condensation, in treated Hela and Caski cells.Our results suggest that T. officinale contains components that could induce apoptosis in Hela and Caski cells, thus, it should be explored for its antitumor potential in cervical cancer.