Chemical Composition of Taraxacum Officinale Extracts and Anti-Proliferative Effect on A549 and HT-29 Cell Lines Through Regulating the Expression of Apoptosis-Related Genes
Abstract
The use of medicinal plants is still of great importance as an alternative treatment method in neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular patients and cancer. Taraxacum officinale plant is one of the medical plants used in the treatment of many diseases as diuretic, hypolipidemic and antidiabetic thanks to the active components it contains. In order to examine the effect of Taraxacum officinal on proliferation and apoptosis in cancer, in our study, we determined the chemical composition of the Taraxacum officinal plant by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and its antioxidant status using a commercial kit. Additionally, we determined the anti-cancer effect of water, methanol and chloroform extracts of the Taraxacum officinal plant on A549 and HT-29 cancer cell lines with the help of the MTT (3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-Diphenyltetrazolium Bromide) method. Finally, we aimed to determine the relationship between the chloroform extract of the Taraxacum officinal plant, which has the highest anti-cancer properties, and apoptosis by determining the expressions of BAX, BCL-2 and Caspase-3, which are among the genes associated with apoptosis, in A549 and HT-29 cancer cell lines, with the help of Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) analysis. We determined that the Taraxacum officinal plant has an anti-cancer effect by increasing caspase-3 expressions in A549 lung cancer cell lines and by increasing caspase-3 and BAX expressions and decreasing BCL-2 expression in HT-29 colon cancer cell lines. In light of the data we obtained, we can say that the Taraxacum officinal plant has anti-cancer properties that cause a decrease in cell proliferation by regulating the expression of genes related to apoptosis
Keywords
Cancer, GC-MS, Taraxacum officinal, Apoptosis, Gene expression
References
- [1] Petrovska B.B., Historical review of medicinal plants’ usage, Pharmacognosy Reviews, 6 (11) (2012) 1.
- [2] Dutra R.C., Campos M.M., Santos A.R., Calixto J.B., Medicinal plants in Brazil: Pharmacological studies, drug discovery, challenges and perspectives, Pharmacological Research, 112 (2016) 4-29.
- [3] Sarkar B., Rana N., Singh C., Singh A., Medicinal herbal remedies in neurodegenerative diseases: an update on antioxidant potential, Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Archives of Pharmacology, (2024) 1-29.
- [4] Tokhirovich, A.A., Maksudjanovna M.G., Phytopharmacokinetics of Medicinal Plants and Drug Preparations Affecting Cardiovascular Diseases, Web of Semantics: Journal of Interdisciplinary Science, 2 (2) (2024) 10-12.
- [5] Gielecińska A., Kciuk M., Mujwar S., Celik I., Kołat D., Kałuzińska-Kołat Ż., Kontek R., Substances of natural origin in medicine: Plants vs. cancer, Cells, 12 (7) (2023) 986.
- [6] Di Napoli A., Zucchetti P., A comprehensive review of the benefits of Taraxacum officinale on human health, Bulletin of the National Research Centre, 45 (1) (2021) 110.
- [7] Clare B.A., Conroy R.S., Spelman K., The diuretic effect in human subjects of an extract of Taraxacum officinale folium over a single day, The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 15 (8) (2009) 929-934.
- [8] Mir M.A., Sawhney S.S., Jassal M.M.S., In-vitro antidiabetic studies of various extracts of Taraxacum officinale, The Pharma Innovation, 4 (1) (2015) 61.
- [9] Choi U.K., Lee O.H., Yim J.H., Cho C.W., Rhee Y.K., Lim S.I., Kim Y.C., Hypolipidemic and antioxidant effects of dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) root and leaf on cholesterol-fed rabbits, International journal of molecular sciences, 11 (1) (2010) 67-78.
- [10] Colle D., Arantes L.P., Gubert P., da Luz S.C.A., Athayde M.L., Teixeira Rocha J.B., Soares F.A.A., Antioxidant properties of Taraxacum officinale leaf extract are involved in the protective effect against hepatoxicity induced by acetaminophen in mice, Journal of medicinal food, 15 (6) (2012) 549-556.