Abstract

INDUCTION OF APOPTOSIS BY CASPASES IN THE LEAVES OF SANSEVIERIA ROXBURGHIANA SCHULT. AND SCHULT. F.

Deepa Philip, *Kaleena P. K., Valivittan K., Florida T.

Abstract

Cancer is one of the most life-affecting disease with many different types. Since most of the chemotherapeutic agents sold for the treatment of cancer are highly expensive, mutagenic, carcinogenic and side effects limit their applications, the compounds derived from plants have a special role in anti-cancer treatment. Apoptosis is a highly organized physiological process to eliminate damaged cells and is involved in maintaining homeostasis. Therefore induction of apoptosis in cells has been considered as a methodology for the identification of anticancer drugs. Apoptosis are triggered by activation of extrinsic and intrinsic pathways, which results from activation of caspases. Sansevieria roxburghiana is an herb that is used for various ailments by traditional healers. The medicinal uses of S. roxburghiana include treatment for abdominal pains, earache, diarrhoea and hemorrhoids. In treating ear aches and hemorrhoids, the leaf of this plant is heated and the warm juice is squeezed onto the affected area. In the present study, Effect of methanol extract of leaves of S. roxburghiana on the activities of caspase-3, caspase-8, and caspase-9 were studied in HepG2 cancer cell line using caspase colorimetric assay which showed caspase-3 and caspase-9 activity whereas caspase-8 showed no activity suggesting, extrinsic apoptotic pathway is probably not involved in this process.

Keywords: life-affecting disease, Sansevieria roxburghiana, HepG2 cancer.