Anticancer Studies of Aqueous Extract of Roots and Leaves of Pandanus Odoratissimus f. ferreus (Y. Kimura) Hatus: An In Vitro Approach

A number of medicinal plant extracts are being used against various diseases in different systems of medicine such as Ayurveda, Unani, and Siddha, but only a few of them have been scientifically explored. The objective of the present study was to explore the dose-dependent in vitro anticancer effects of the extracts of Pandanus odoratissimus whose scientific documentation as an anticancer agent is lacking despite being used traditionally. The dried parts of roots and leaves were extracted with methanol (MEPO) and water (AEPO). The extracts were then subjected to in vitro cytotoxic and antimitotic screening by brine shrimp lethality assay and onion root tip method, respectively. Further, the behavior of the extracts on calu-6 (non-small cell lung cancer cell lines), PBMC (peripheral blood mononuclear cells) and WI (lung fibroblast cell lines) was studied using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium (MTT) assay followed by flow cytometric analysis on calu-6 cell lines. AEPO showed significant cytotoxic and antimitotic activities. It showed 100% lethality of brine shrimps at 80 μg/ml and an LC_(50) of 33.33 μg/ml, which was eightfold higher than that of synthetic standard podophyllotoxin (4.16 μg/ml). AEPO at 10 mg/ml concentration showed significant antimitotic activity by showing 3% mitotic index. which was more than that of standard cyclophosphamide with 4% mitotic index in comparison to control. There was a significant reduction in cell proliferation of calu-6 cells, ranging from 56 to 35%, after 24-48 h of treatment with 200 μg/ml (P ＜ 0.001) of AEPO, while AEPO remained unaffected on PBMC and WI-38 cel lines. Cell cycle analysis revealed that AEPO at 50 μg/ml and 100 μg/ml significantly increased the number of cells in sub G0-G1 phase, indicating the cells entering in to apoptotic phase. These results suggest that aqueous extract of P. odoratissimus possesses better anticancer activity. The plant has the potential to be used in anticancer therapy, and this study scientifically validated the folklore use of this plant.