Antiproliferative and apoptotic potential of Daphne gnidium L. root extract on lung cancer and hepatoma cells

Daphne gnidium L. (Thymeleacees) is a famous Moroccan plant with cancer-related ethnobotanical use. Previously, we demonstrated that ethyl acetate extract of D. gnidium had antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic potential on human breast tumor MCF-7 cells. The purpose of this study was to investigate if the antiproliferative effect of this extract was similar for different human cancer cell lines such as A549 lung cancer and SMMC-7721 hepatoma cells. Moreover, this work essentially focused on the intrinsic apoptotic signaling pathway. Antiproliferative activity was evaluated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide on A549 and SMMC-7721 cells. The characterization of the mechanisms involved in this effect was determined by lactate dehydrogenase test, apoptosis assays and western blot analyses. Our present study has shown that this extract strongly inhibited proliferation of A549 (IC50: 213 ± 15 μg/ml) and SMMC-7721 (IC50: 170 ± 13 μg/ml) cells. The characterization of antiproliferative effect demonstrated that this extract was an apoptosis inducer in both cell lines tested. The results of western blot analyses have shown in SMMC-7721 cells that this extract activated caspase signaling triggered by the modulation of Bcl-2 family proteins. These findings suggest that this natural extract-induced effects may have novel therapeutic applications for the treatment of different cancer types.