Evaluation of antiproliferative effects of aqueous extract from Justicia spicigera in different cancer cell lines

Abstract

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cancer is the second cause of death globally, with 1.8 million deaths in 2018. It is estimated that these numbers will rise to 16.4 million of deaths by 2040. Until today the most efficient treatment against cancer is chemotherapy; However, its side effects and due to it kills cancer cells, as well as healthy cells, is the reason why nowadays researchers are looking for new treatments that are more efficient against cancer and that do not generate adverse effects such as chemotherapy. Since ancient times, plants have been used to treat diseases such as cancer due to the large number of active compounds they have, which benefit human health. Clear examples are vinblastine and taxol, which are compounds obtained from plants and are currently used to treat different types of cancer. For this reason, it is essential to analyze the medicinal effects of plants used as natural remedies to corroborate their effects and find new compounds that can help treat cancer. Mexico is a megadiverse country with a rich flora of 22,000 species, of which 4,000 have a medicinal attribute; one of them is Justicia spicigera that has been presented cytotoxic properties against cancer cells lines of prostate, cervix, bone, and breast. This research demonstrated that the aqueous extract of Justicia spicigera presents a cytotoxic behavior in MCF7, PC3, LNCaP, and Caco-2 cell lines without cytotoxic effect in normal HDFa and NIH-3T3 cells. Furthermore, it was detected that the aqueous extract of Justicia spicigera has a protective effect against UV-B radiation. Also, its antioxidant activity and the characterization of compounds of the extract were analyzed. As a result, it was obtained that the main compounds present in the aqueous extract are derivatives of the flavonoid kaempferol, an antioxidant that has an effect against cancer. These results confirm that the plant Justicia spicigera has a medicinal effect against different cancer cell lines without damaging normal cells, indicating that it is a potential candidate for developing a new treatment against cancer without side effects.