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BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies
Published in: BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies 1/2023

Open Access 01-12-2023 | Alkaloids | Research

Tinospora sinensis (Lour.) Merr alkaloid rich extract induces colon cancer cell death via ROS mediated, mTOR dependent apoptosis pathway: “an in-vitro study”

Authors: Sreelakshmi Badavenkatappa gari, Vinod K. Nelson, Ramalingam Peraman

Published in: BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies | Issue 1/2023

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Abstract

Background

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most mortality rate causing disease after lung cancer. Though there is a significant improvement in the treatment schedule offered to CRC. However, there is no notable decrease in terms of cases as well as death rate. Hence, there is an urgent need to discover novel cancer therapeutics to treat CRC. Since ancient times, the use of phytochemicals has drawn huge attention as chemo-preventive and chemotherapeutic agents. Earlier studies on Tinospora sinensis (TS) revealed the cytotoxic effect on human colorectal carcinoma (HCT-116) cells, yet the mechanism is to be uncovered. Therefore, the present study was designed to study the cell death mechanism of TS in HCT-116 cells.

Method

Different extracts such as n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and ethanol extracts from the root part of TS were prepared using a cold maceration process. The extracts were screened against cancer cell lines by methyl thiazoldiphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. From the result, the most active extract was subjected to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and Fourier-Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses to identify the major constituents. Finally, the mechanism of cytotoxicity to cancer cells for the most active extract was evaluated using various experiments such as cell cycle analysis, Annexin-V assay, and Western blot.

Results

The results from the MTT assay indicated that the n-hexane extract of TS inhibits the growth of HCT-116 cells more effectively than other cancer cells like Henrietta Lacks cervical cancer cells (Hela), and Michigan cancer foundation-breast cancer (MCF-7). The GC-MS and FT-IR analyses revealed the presence of alkaloids in the n-hexane extract and were responsible for the apoptosis activity in HCT-cells via reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, and phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/ protein Kinase B (Akt)/ mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) down-regulation.

Conclusion

This study concludes that this finding is unique of its kind, and for the first time. The anticancer effect of TS root is specific to colon cancer cells (HCT-116). This distinctive finding helps the researchers to investigate further, and to identify a novel source for anti-colon cancer drug candidates in near future.
Appendix
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Metadata
Title
Tinospora sinensis (Lour.) Merr alkaloid rich extract induces colon cancer cell death via ROS mediated, mTOR dependent apoptosis pathway: “an in-vitro study”
Authors
Sreelakshmi Badavenkatappa gari
Vinod K. Nelson
Ramalingam Peraman
Publication date
01-12-2023
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies / Issue 1/2023
Electronic ISSN: 2662-7671
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12906-023-03849-5

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