Holarrhena floribunda leaves as a potential source of bioactive anticancer compounds

Abstract

Cancer is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in developed and developing nations. It is estimated that 86% of new cases and 64% of death due to cancer are from Africa and 13.1 million deaths are estimated to occur worldwide by the year 2030. Cancer death rates have not subsided despite recent advances in cancer drug development and treatment. Present cancer drug regimens are limited due to unpredictable efficiency, severe side effects, resistance and high cost. Plants provide a vast array of natural compounds such as terpenoids, phenolics and alkaloids with antiproliferative pro-apoptotic and antioxidant effects. Plants are principal sources of compounds for drug discovery and development of several clinically proven useful anticancer drugs. The present study focused on the isolation of compounds from the Holarrhena floribunda (H. floribunda) leaves for their potential anticancer activities. Standard methods were employed to assess the antiproliferative potential, apoptosis, cell cycle analysis and reactive oxygen species of the methanolic leaf extract (MLE) of H. floribunda. The standard methods of isolation such as column chromatography, thin layer chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) were used to isolate and purify bioactive compounds from the leaves. To elucidate the mechanism of cytotoxicity of the isolated compounds, apoptosis effect was studied by flow cytometry analysis using the ApopercentageTM dye, Annexin-V/PI stain, induction of caspase-3 using the Caspase-3/7 Glo assay kit and PARP-1 deactivation using Western blot analysis. The mode of action was further assessed by evaluating reactive oxygen species (ROS), mitochondrial toxicity, light and fluorescent microscopic morphological evaluations of F-actin and topoisomerase-I relaxation assay. In addition, potential cancer prevention of the plant was also evaluated by assessing the antioxidant activity of the flavonoids compounds isolated from the MLE.