ANTI-PROLIFERATIVE ACTIVITIES OF VIETNAMESE HERBS

Cancer is a dangerous global disease and causes a heavy economic burden in low-income countries. Traditional medicinal plants play an important role in the research and development of cancer treatment drugs. Twenty-four traditional Vietnamese herbs were evaluated for their cytotoxic activities against nine cancer cell lines including HepG2, A549, MCF7, HT-29, HeLa, RD, LNCaP, HL-60 and NTERA-2. Cytotoxic activity was assessed following Monks’ protocol (1991) by measuring total cellular protein content using sulforhodamine B (SRB) staining. The 70% ethanol extract of eight medicinal herbs including Phyllanthus urinaria L. (TD.MD1), Solanum trilobatum L. (TD.MD2), Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels (TD.MD3), Xanthium strumarium L. (TD.MD11), Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi (TD.MD15), Platycodon grandiflorus (Jacq.) A.D.C. (TD.MD17), Lycopodium clavatum L. (TD.MD20) and Ophiopogon japonicus (Thunb.) Ker Gawl. (TD.MD21) showed cytotoxic activity against HepG2, A549, MCF7, HT-29, HeLa, RD, LNCaP, HL-60 cell lines with IC₅₀ values ranging from 18.60 to 93.84 µg/mL. The hexane, ethyl acetate, n-butanol, water extract residues of the 70% ethanol extracts demonstrated cytotoxic activities against NTERA-2 cell line with IC₅₀ values of 8.60 to 90.83 µg/mL. This is the first study to evaluate the proliferation inhibition potential of these medicinal herbs on cancer stem cells. The eight medicinal herbs have shown potential to aid in the treatment of various cancers and as raw materials for further research on secondary metabolites with cytotoxic activity.