Anticancer effect of Digera muricata Leaf Extract against Prostate Cancer Cell Lines

Background: Prostate cancer has become a major health problem globally during the last few decades. It is the second most frequently diagnosed cancer in men worldwide and the fifth most common cancer overall. Chemotherapy or other cancer treatments including androgen depletion therapy, show high toxicity and cause serious side effects in cancer patients. Thus, there have been many studies conducted to find various natural products as potential anticancer drug candidates with low toxicity and fewer side effects for the treatment and prevention of prostate cancer. The Digera muricata of the genus Digera Forssk and family Amaranthaceae Juss. is a wild edible plant. The presence of phenol, flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenes, sterols, tannins, glycosides and lignins is seen in Digera muricata leaf extract, which are reported to have cytotoxic activities.

Aim of the Study: The aim of this study is to assess the cytotoxic effects of Digera muricata leaf extract on prostate cancer cell line.

Materials and Methods: The cytotoxic potency of Digera muricata leaf extract was carried out by MTT (3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2yl]-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide) assay against the prostate cancer (PC-3) cell line. PC-3 cells were treated with different concentrations of Digera muricata leaf extract (25-150μg/ml) for 24h. Furthermore, the morphological changes were analysed using phase contrast microscopy and nuclear morphological changes examined using DAPI (4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole) staining under the fluorescence microscopy

Results: The MTT assay showed decreased cell vitality with increased concentration of Digera muricata leaf extract. The morphological study showed that the number of cells decreased after treatment and the cells exhibited cell shrinkage and cytoplasmic membrane blebbing. The treated cells also showed condensed chromatin and nuclear fragmentation

Conclusion: Within the limits of this study it can be demonstrated that the leaf extract of Digera muricata were cytotoxic and induced apoptosis to the cancer cells.