In vitro cytotoxic and apoptotic activity of four Persian medicine plants on human leukemia and lymphoma cells

ObjectiveTo investigate the cytotoxic and apoptotic activity of Ferulago angulata, Echinophora platyloba, Salvia officinalis and Chelidonium majus on leukemia and lymphoma cell lines, non-Hodgkin's B-cell lymphoma (Raji), human leukemic monocyte lymphoma (U937), human acute myelocytic leukemia (KG-1A) cell lines and peripheral blood mononuclear cells.MethodsCytotoxicity was determined by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. Cell viability assay was done using trypan blue exclusion experiments and cell death was identified as apoptosis using death detection ELISA.ResultsOur results demonstrated that the extracts dose and time dependently suppressed the proliferation of three leukemia and lymphoma tumor cell lines (KG-1A, U937 and Raji) with ascending order of IC50 values, while peripheral blood mononuclear cells were not significantly affected. Nucleosome productions in apoptotic KG-1A, U937, and Raji cells were significantly augmented in a time-dependent manner and paralleled the anti-proliferative activity of the extracts.ConclusionsThe extracts were found to time- and dose-dependently inhibit the proliferation of KG-1A, U937, and Raji cells possibly via an apoptosis-dependent pathway.