ANTITUMORAL PROPERTIES OF PROSOPIS STROMBULIFERA (LAM) BENTH. AQUEOUS EXTRACT AGAINST COLORECTAL CANCER AND ITS ACTIVE CONSTITUENTS DETERMINATION

PERSIA ANDRES; GARCIA ANA KAREN; HAPON M. BELÉN; CARLOS GAMARRA LUQUES

Mar del Plata

Congreso; LXI REUNIÓN ANUAL DE LA SOCIEDAD ARGENTINA DE INVESTIGACIÓN CLÍNICA; 2016

SAIC

Many drugs used in oncology have been provided by nature.Contribution of plants to cancer treatment is evidenced by thesuccess of drugs like vinblastine, topotecan, paclitaxel and others.Prosopis strombulifera (Ps) is a native plant from Mendozapopularly used as astringent, anti-inflammatory, odontalgic andanti-diarrheic agent. Our recent data show that Ps aqueous extractis cytotoxic against tumoral cell lines. The aim of the present studywas to demonstrate the capability of aqueous extract to interferewith colorectal tumor progression in vivo and to identify its chemicalmain components with cytotoxic activity. Tumor induction wasperformed in 3 groups (n=8) of BALB/c males, 6 weeks old, by1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH, 21mg/kg/week, S.C., 22 weeks)administration. In vivo treatments were 5-fluorouracil (5FU, 30mg/kg /week, I.P) or Ps (150 mg/day in drinking water); both started8 weeks after tumor induction; a third group did not receive anytreatment. The phytochemical analysis was performed by specificreactions. Chemical constituents were fractioned by solid-liquidextraction and its cytotoxicity measured by MTT tetrazolium assay.Ps administration significantly increases animal survival from 24weeks after tumor induction in non-treated group to 34.5 weeks(Mantel Cox, p=0.0188), while 5FU group survive 27 weeks. Aqualitative phytochemical screening of the aqueous extract revealeda positive reaction for flavonoids, carbohydrates, sterols,terpenes and tannins; whereas, alkaloids, proteins and resins wereare not detected. Between isolated fractions, only terpenes wereable to induce cytotoxicity on HCT-116 human colorectal cells;while aqueous extract shows an IC50 of 502μg/ml, the isolatedterpenes IC50 were 528μg/ml (5FU positive control was 8.86μg/ml). In conclusion, the present work makes Ps a promising naturalproduct for cancer research and treatment, being terpenes themain candidates for further chemical-analytical studies.