Potent anti-proliferative effects against oral and cervical cancers of Thai medicinal plants selected from the Thai/Lanna medicinal plant recipe database “MANOSROI III”

AbstractContext: Thai/Lanna medicinal plant recipes have been used for the treatment of several diseases including oral and cervical cancers.Objective: To investigate anti-proliferative activity on human cervical (HeLa) and oral (KB) cancer cell lines of medicinal plants selected from Thai/Lanna medicinal plant recipe database “MANOSROI III”.Materials and methods: Twenty-three methanolic plant crude extracts were tested for phytochemicals and anti-proliferative activity on HeLa and KB cell lines for 24 h by the sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay at the doses of 1 × 101–1 × 10−6 mg/ml. The nine extracts with the concentrations giving 50% growth inhibition (GI50) lower than 100 µg/ml were further semi-purified by liquid/liquid partition in order to evaluate and enhance the anti-proliferative potency.Results: All extracts contained steroids/triterpenoids, but not xanthones. The methanolic extracts of Gloriosa superba L. (Colchinaceae) root and Albizia chinensis (Osbeck) Merr. (Leguminosae–Mimosoideae) wood gave th...