Treatment with <i>Uncaria tomentosa</i> Promotes Apoptosis in B16-BL6 Mouse Melanoma Cells and Inhibits the Growth of B16-BL6 Tumours

oleh: Ali Zari, Hajer Alfarteesh, Carly Buckner, Robert Lafrenie

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2021-02-01

Deskripsi

<i>Uncaria tomentosa </i>is a medicinal plant native to Peru that has been traditionally used in the treatment of various inflammatory disorders. In this study, the effectiveness of <i>U. tomentosa </i>as an anti-cancer agent was assessed using the growth and survival of B16-BL6 mouse melanoma cells. B16-BL6 cell cultures treated with both ethanol and phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) extracts of <i>U. tomentosa</i> displayed up to 80% lower levels of growth and increased apoptosis compared to vehicle controls. Treatment with ethanolic extracts of <i>Uncaria tomentosa</i> were much more effective than treatment with aqueous extracts. <i>U. tomentosa </i>was also shown to inhibit B16-BL6 cell growth in C57/bl mice in vivo. Mice injected with both the ethanolic and aqueous extracts of <i>U. tomentosa </i>showed a 59 ± 13% decrease in B16-BL6 tumour weight and a 40 ± 9% decrease in tumour size. Histochemical analysis of the B16-BL6 tumours showed a strong reduction in the Ki-67 cell proliferation marker in <i>U. tomentosa</i>-treated mice and a small, but insignificant increase in terminal transferase dUTP nick labelling (TUNEL) staining. Furthermore, <i>U. tomentosa</i> extracts reduced angiogenic markers and reduced the infiltration of T cells into the tumours. Collectively, the results in this study concluded that <i>U. tomentosa</i> has potent anti-cancer activity that significantly inhibited cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.