Chloroform extract of Allium bakhtiaricum exhibits potent anti-cancer activity

In this study, researchers from Iran investigated the anti-cancer properties of Allium bakhtiaricum, a Allium species native to their country, in vitro and in vivo. Their results were published in the journal BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

• Allium plants are nutritious and are commonly included in the diet of people in Iran.
• Allium plants have health-promoting properties, the most notable of which are their anti-cancer effects. These are due to the presence of numerous bioactive compounds.
• To evaluate the anti-cancer properties of a local Allium species, the researchers obtained fractions from A. bakhtiaricum and used them to treat MDA-MB-231 cells, a human breast cancer cell line.
• They used MTT assay, Annexin V/PI and SA-B-gal staining, Western blotting, flow-cytometric and immunofluorescence microscopic evaluations to assess the fractions’ effects on the growth of cancer cells.
• In vivo, they investigated the extracts’ anti-tumor activity using BALB/c mice bearing 4?T1 mammary carcinoma cells.
• The researchers reported that the chloroform and ethyl acetate fractions of A. bakhtiaricum showed the highest cytotoxicity toward MDA-MB-231 cells after 72 hours of treatment.
• Incubation of MDA-MB-231 cells with different concentrations of each fraction also resulted in G2/M cell cycle arrest.
• At a quarter of its IC50, the chloroform fraction disrupted polymerization in the mitotic microtubules.
• On the other hand, exposure of MDA-MB-231 cells to different concentrations of the extracts at different incubation times did not induce apoptosis, autophagy or senescence.
• Treatment with one milligram per kilogram per day (mg/kg/day) of the chloroform extract suppressed mammary tumor progression and decreased the number of proliferative cells in the lung tissues.

Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that A. bakhtiaricum can suppress breast cancer by inducing mitotic cell cycle arrest.

Read the full study at this link.

Journal Reference:

Vafaee K, Dehghani S, Tahmasvand R, Abadi FS, Irian S, Salimi M. POTENT ANTITUMOR PROPERTY OF ALLIUM BAKHTIARICUM EXTRACTS. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 04 June 2019;19(1). DOI: 10.1186/s12906-019-2522-8