Evaluation of the anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferation tumoral cells activities of Antrodia camphorata, Cordyceps sinensis, and Cinnamomum osmophloeum bark extracts

The extracts of chloroform (1) and methanol (2) from Antrodia camphorata (AC), and chloroform (3) and n-butanol (4) fractions of methanol extract from Cordyceps sinensis (CS), and hexane (5), ethyl acetate (6), and methanol (7) from Cinnamomum osmophloeum bark (CO) were evaluated for their anti-inflammatory as well as tumor-cell growth inhibitory activities in vitro. All the tested extracts dose dependently inhibited the enhanced production of inflammatory mediators such as nitric oxide (NO) through reducing inducible NO synthase expression, and cytokines (tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-12 in LPS/IFN-γ activated murine peritoneal macrophages. In addition, extracts 1 from AC, and 5 and 6 from CO significantly arrest the mitogen-stimulated spleen cells in G0/G1 stage. On the other hand, all these extracts were also evaluated for their tumor-cell proliferation activities in different type of cancer cell lines such as Jurkat, HepG2, PC 3, Colon 205, and MCF 7 as well as normal PBMCs. Compared to untreated controls, the extracts 1, 2, and 4–7 were most active and inhibited Jurkat cells with IC50 value of 22, 40, 18, 4, 5, and 45 μg/ml, respectively. In addition, the extracts 5, 6, and 7 from CO showed potent growth inhibition of HepG2 and PC 3 with IC50 values of 35, 80, 55 μg/ml; and 42, 125, and 50 μg/ml, respectively. Similarly, the extracts 1 and 5 inhibited the growth of Colon 205 and MCF 7 cells with IC50 values of 65, 33; and 95 and 30 μg/ml, respectively. Interestingly, none of the tested extract has shown cytotoxicity towards normal PBMCs up to the concentration range studies (0–150 μg/ml). Taken together, these data suggest that the anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties of AC, CS, and CO might result from the growth inhibition of NO, TNF-α and IL-12, and tumor cells proliferation, respectively.