In vitro anticancer activity screening of Iridaceae plant extracts

Abstract

The different effects on human tumor cells (MCF-7, HepG2, HCT116, HeLa, HL-60, and HaCaT) for Ukrainian plant extracts have been examined for the first time. The extracts were from Crocus sativus (stigma, flowers, leaves, and corms), Juno bucharica (leaves), Gladiolus hybrid Zefir (leaves), and Iris hungarica (rhizomes) from Iridaceae family. All the studied extracts exhibited in vitro dose- and time-dependent killing capabilities on applied tumor cell lines. Their killing activity was tissue specific toward tumor cells. The HL-60 acute promyelocytic leukemia cell line and HCT116 colon adenocarcinoma cell line were found as the most sensitive toward treatment with studied plant extracts. It was found that the extracts were not active against normal human epidermal keratinocytes of the HaCaT line. Gladiolus leaf extract showed particularly strong anticancer properties in vitro. The current results for the first time suggest that Iridaceae plant water dry extracts are promising anticancer reagents. Subsequently, the results can be used to develop a prevention agent for the treatment of human cancers.