In Vitro Induction of Apoptosis in Isolated Acute Myeloid Leukemia Cells: The Role of Anastatica hierochuntica Methanolic Extract

Islam M El-Garawani; Amira S Abd El-Gaber; Noura A Algamdi; Aamer Saeed; Chao Zhao; Omar M Khattab; Mohamed F AlAjmi; Zhiming Guo; Shaden A M Khalifa; Hesham R El-Seedi

doi:10.3390/metabo12090878

In Vitro Induction of Apoptosis in Isolated Acute Myeloid Leukemia Cells: The Role of Anastatica hierochuntica Methanolic Extract

Metabolites. 2022 Sep 17;12(9):878. doi: 10.3390/metabo12090878.

Authors

Islam M El-Garawani¹, Amira S Abd El-Gaber², Noura A Algamdi³, Aamer Saeed⁴, Chao Zhao⁵, Omar M Khattab^{2

6}, Mohamed F AlAjmi⁷, Zhiming Guo⁸, Shaden A M Khalifa⁹, Hesham R El-Seedi^{2

6

10

11}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Menoufia University, Shebin El-Kom 32512, Egypt.
² Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Menoufia University, Shebin El-Kom 32512, Egypt.
³ Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Taibah University, Al Madinah 42353, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan.
⁵ College of Food Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China.
⁶ Pharmacognosy Group, Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Uppsala University, Biomedical Centre, SE 751 24 Uppsala, Sweden.
⁷ Department of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ School of Food and Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China.
⁹ Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University, SE 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.
¹⁰ International Joint Research Laboratory of Intelligent Agriculture and Agri-Products Processing, Jiangsu Education Department, Jiangsu University, Nanjing 210024, China.
¹¹ International Research Center for Food Nutrition and Safety, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China.

Abstract

Anastatica hierochuntica L. (Cruciferae) has been known in Egyptian folk medicine as a remedy for gastrointestinal disorders, diabetes and heart diseases. Despite the wide usage, A. hierochuntica research provides insufficient data to support its traditional practice. The cytotoxicity of A. hierochuntica methanolic extract was investigated on acute myeloid leukemia blasts (AML) and normal human peripheral leucocytes (NHPL). The phytochemical identification of bioactive compounds using ¹H-NMR and LC-ESI-MS was also performed. A. hierochuntica extract caused non-significant cytotoxicity on NHPL, while the cytotoxicity on AML was significant (IC₅₀: 0.38 ± 0.02 μg/mL). The negative expression of p53, upregulation of Caspase-3 and increase in the BAX/BCL-2 ratio were reported at the protein and mRNA levels. The results suggest that A. hierochuntica extract induced AML cell death via the p53-independent mitochondrial intrinsic pathway and further attention should be paid to this plant as a promising natural anticancer agent.

Keywords: 1H-NMR; Brassicaceae; LC-ESI-MS; acute myeloid leukemia blasts; anticancer; metabolites; molecular networking.

Grants and funding

RSP-2021/122/King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia