The spreading of
cancer is increasing over the world and the percentage of deaths caused
by this fatal disease is rising especially in the developing countries.
Scientists and researchers are now giving more of their attention to the
herbal medicine to provide treatment for more difficult diseases like
cancer due to the fact that the treatments of cancer patients with
chemical therapy have serious side effects. Recently herbal medicines
are coming to play a more vital role in the reduction and prevention of
cancer. The rapid interest in traditional Arabic herbal medicine (TAHM)
worldwide stimulated by many factors mainly, that herbal products are
safe and economical.
This current study investigates traditional Arabic Herbal Medicine the
in vitro cytotoxic and cytostatic of anticancer medicinal plants. Two
medicinal plant extracts, Cyclamen persicum corm and Quercus
calliprinos, were prepared using ethanol in water from the leaves of
plants, barks and fruits. The selection of these plants was done based
on recent survey that revealed their medicinal value in the treatment of
cancer. The ethanolic extracts were screened for cytostatic effects
against healthy mouse macrophages and both cytotoxic and cytostatic
activities against three cancer cell lines (human lung: fibroblast,
mouse -macrophage Raw 264-7, human prostate: cell line PC3) using MTT
test. C. persicum corm extracts showed cytotoxicity for normal and all
three cancer cell lines tested at concentrations than 62.5µg/ml. In
comparison to C. persicum all three Q. calliprinos extracts showed lower
cytotoxicity at all tested concentrations. It is concluded that, for
these medicinal plants, the traditional uses as antitumor effects are
the result may be of cytotoxic but not of cytostatic properties of these
plants.