IJMS Vol 43, No 1, January 2018 Original Article Antiproliferative Effects of Pancratium Maritimum Extracts on Normal and Cancerous Cells Ghaleb Tayoub1, PhD; Abstract Mohmad Al-Odat2, PhD; Amal Amer1, BSc; Background: Plants are an important natural source of Abdulmunim Aljapawe1, BSc; compounds used in cancer therapy. Pancratium maritimum Adnan Ekhtiar1,PhD contains potential anti-cancer agents such as alkaloids. In this study, we investigated the anti-proliferative effects of P. maritimum extracts on MDA-MB-231 human epithelial 1Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Atomic Energy adenocarcinoma cell line and on normal lymphocytes in vitro. Commission of Syria, Damascus, Syria; Methods: Leaves, flowers, roots, and bulbs of P. maritimum 2Department of Radiation Protection and Safety, Atomic Energy Commission of were collected and their contents were extracted and diluted to Syria, Damascus, Syria different concentrations that were applied on MDA-MB-231 cells and normal human lymphocytes in vitro for different intervals. Correspondence: Ghaleb Tayoub, PhD; Cells viability, proliferation, cell cycle distribution, apoptosis, Atomic Energy Commission of Syria, and growth were evaluated by flow cytometry and microscopy. P. O. Box: 6091, Damascus, Syria Parametric unpaired t-test was used to compare effects of plant Fax: +963 11 6112289 Tel: +963 11 2132580 extracts on treated cell cultures with untreated control cell Email:
[email protected] cultures. IC50 was also calculated. Received: 3 September 2016 Results: P. maritimum extract had profound effects on Revised: 15 October 2016 Accepted: 13 November 2016 MDA-MB-321 cells. It inhibited cell proliferation in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The IC50 values were 0.039, 0.035, and 0.026 mg/ml after 48, 72, and 96 hours of treatment with 0.1 mg/ml concentration of bulb extract, respectively.