Apaisalee [APSL] is a Thai traditional remedy in NLEM (National List of Essential Medicines) of Thailand. It used to treat COPD and reduce inflammatory in lung cancer. This remedy composed with 19 plant species[1]. However, there is no report on cytotoxic effect on lung cancer cell. Thus, the objective of this study is to investigate cytotoxic activity of the extracts of APSL and its plant ingredients against three types of human lung cancer cells such as A549, NCI-H226 and COR-L23. APSL and its plant ingredients were extracted by maceration in 95% ethanol and boiling in water. All extracts were tested for cytotoxic activity by sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay [2]. The ethanolic extract of APSL showed cytotoxic activity against A549, NCI-H226 and COR-L23 with IC50 values of 34.75 ± 1.93, 88.72 ± 2.93 and 10.16 ± 1.67 µg/ml, respectively, but the water extract of APSL had no cytotoxic activity (IC50> 100 µg/ml). The ethanolic extract of Clausena excavate showed the highest cytotoxic activity against A549, NCI-H226 and COR-L23 with IC50 values of 0.01 ± 0.00, 0.014 ± 0.003 and, 1.18 ± 0.06 µg/ml, respectively. The water extract of Clausena excavate also showed the highest cytotoxic activity against A549 and COR-L23 with IC50 values of 28.12 ± 2.25 and 10.07 ± 1.28 µg/ml respectively but it had no active on NCI-H226 (IC50> 100 µg/ml). The water extract of Syzygium aromaticum exhibited the highest activity against NCI-H266 with IC50 as 28.39 ± 1.30 µg/ml. These results support the use of APSL remedy in Thai traditional medicine for lung cancer treament and Clausena excavate is recommended as active plant ingredient of this remedy.
[1] Champasuri S and Itharat A Master thesis, Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Thammasat University,Thailand;2015.
[2] Skehan, P. et al J Natl Cancer Inst 1990; 82:1107 – 1112.
