Melanoma is a cancer of melanocyte cells and has the highest global incidence. There is a need to develop new drugs for the treatment of this deadly cancer, which is resistant to currently used treatment modalities. We investigated the anticancer activity of visnagin, a natural furanochromone derivative, isolated from Ammi visnaga L., against malignant melanoma (HT 144) cell lines. The singlet oxygen production capacity of visnagin was determined by the RNO bleaching method while cytotoxic activity by the MTT assay. Further, HT 144 cells treated with visnagin were also exposed to visible light (λ ≥ 400 nm) for 25 min to examine the illumination cytotoxic activity. The apoptosis was measured by flow cytometry with annexin V/PI dual staining technique. The effect of TNF-α secretion on apoptosis was also investigated. In standard MTT assay, visnagin (100 µg/mL) exhibited 80.93% inhibitory activity against HT 144 cancer cell lines, while in illuminated MTT assay at same concentration it showed lesser inhibitory activity (63.19%). Visnagin was induced apoptosis due to the intracellular generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and showed an apoptotic effect against HT 144 cell lines by 25.88%. However, it has no effect on TNF-α secretion. Our study indicates that visnagin can inhibit the proliferation of malignant melanoma, apparently by inducing the intracellular oxidative stress.
Keywords: Ammi visnaga L.; Apoptosis; Malignant melanoma; Visnagin.