Exploration and Evaluation of Therapeutic Effects of Herbals as Potent Anticancer Drug Candidate Using Cell Lines

Abstract

Cancer is today recognized as a highlyheterogeneous disease: more than 100distinct types of human cancer have been describedand various tumor subtypes canbe found within specific organs. The pathologicalhallmarks of the disease includelimitless replicative potential, insensitivity to antigrowth signal, evasion of apoptosis.Despiteadvancement in understanding of thepathophysiology of the cancer through newlinepre-clinical and clinical studies, treatment of cancer is still enigmatic. Currentlyavailable conventional drugs only provide symptomatic relief without affectingretardation of the disease progression and concomitantly exertsevere side effects inthe long-term use. The natural products or compounds from various natural herbs arepotential candidates for development of chemopreventive andchemotherapeuticagents against cancer. Pertinent to it, herbal drug candidates derivedfrom medicinalplants have gainedconsiderable attention worldwide due to their pleiotropic mode ofaction and safety in long term use for various disorders including cancer. Studies haveprovided new insights regarding the mode of action of therapeutic efficacy ofbioactive fractions isolated from a revered medicinal plant of Indian System of newlineMedicine (ISM), Helicteres isora(L.); hardly been investigated for therapeuticeffectiveness against cancer. newlineWith this background, the present research work was planned to systematicallyexplore and evaluate therapeutic effects of H .isora as potent anticancer drugcandidate. In the present study, active fractions from crude extract of fruit and leavesof H. isora were extracted through soxhlation, quantified with spectrophotometricanalysis and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). At thecommencement of the study, in vitro assays were performed to assess the total newlinepolyphenol, total alkaloid content andantioxidant activity of the tested drug newlinecandidates.