Cytotoxic and apoptotic effects of different extracts of artemisia turanica Krasch. on K562 and HL-60 cell lines

Abstract

Artemisia is an important genus of Iranian flora. Cytotoxic activities for some species of the genus have already been reported. In this study, we have investigated the cytotoxic effects of n-hexane, CHl EtOAc, EtOH, and EtOH/H (1: 1) extracts of A. turanica Krasch. on two human leukemic cancer cell lines (K562 and HL-60) and J774 as normal cells using alamarBlue (resazurin) assay. PI staining of the fragmented DNA and western blot analysis were used to evaluate the possible apoptotic effect of the extract. The CHlextract of A. turanica showed the most antiproliferative effect on cancer cells among all tested extracts with ICvalues of 69 and 104 g/mL on K562 and HL-60 cells, respectively, whereas the normal cells were not affected significantly by this extract. Sub-G1 peak in the flow cytometry histogram of the cells treated with CHlextract of A. turanica and cleavage of PARP protein confirmed the induction of apoptosis with CHlextract. Taken together, the findings of the present work suggest the anticancer potential of CHlextract of A. turanica on human leukemic cancer cell lines. © 2013 Zahra Tayarani-Najaran et al.