| dc.description.abstract | Sutherlandia frutescens popularly known as "cancer bush" or "kankerbos" is indigenous to South Africa and claimed by traditional healers to have wide therapeutic potential, most specifically against cancer. To verify these traditional claims we used apoptosis-based bioassays, organic solvent extraction, TLC (thin layer chromatography) and HPLC (high perforrnance liquid chromatography) to evaluate extracts from Sutherlandia frutescens microphylla from different geographical populations and from selected S. frutescezs subspecies.
The data demonstrate that a specific Sutherlandia frutescens extract has the ability to induce apoptosis in cultured cells. This investigation has suggested that the induction of apoptosis by the extract shows some specificity for transformed cultured cells. In
addition, biological activity was traced by chemical fractionation of the crude extract to the chloroform and ethyl acetate fractions. Extracts obtained from S. frutescens microphylla from different geographical regions and subspecies were compared, there was variation in apoptotic activity between the extracts. This suggests that the apoptotic activity and hence possible anti-cancer activity of this plant depends on
external environmental factors.
In summary, the presented findings are supportive of the claims made by traditional healers that S. frutescens has anti-cancer activity. However we have found that apoptotic activity was not present in all the plants, even of the same species, and hence further investigations are required to identify which factors cause certain plants to have greater apoptotic activity than others. Furthermore the extract analyzed in this study must be further characterized to identify compounds with anti-cancer activities. | en_US |
