Sechium edule (Jacq.) Swartz, a New Cultivar with Antiproliferative Potential in a Human Cervical Cancer HeLa Cell Line

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 9; no. 8; p. 798
• Main Authors: Salazar-Aguilar, Sandra, Ruiz-Posadas, Lucero Del Mar, Cadena-Iñiguez, Jorge, Soto-Hernández, Marcos, Santiago-Osorio, Edelmiro, Aguiñiga-Sánchez, Itzen, Rivera-Martínez, Ana Rocío, Aguirre-Medina, Juan Francisco
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 25-07-2017; MDPI
• Subjects: Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic - pharmacology; Apigenin - pharmacology; Biological activity; Biological effects; Biological materials; Biomedical materials; cancer; Cell proliferation; Cell Proliferation - drug effects; Cervical cancer; Cervix; chayote; Chromatography; Column chromatography; Cucurbitaceae - chemistry; Cucurbitacins - pharmacology; Female; Flavanones - pharmacology; Flavonoids; Flavonoids - pharmacology; Fruit - chemistry; HeLa Cells; High performance liquid chromatography; Humans; Inhibitory Concentration 50; Liquid chromatography; Lymphocytes; Naringenin; Perla Negra; Phloretin - pharmacology; Phytochemicals - pharmacology; Plant Extracts - pharmacology; Quercetin; Quercetin - pharmacology; Rutin; Rutin - pharmacology; Thin layer chromatography; Tumor cell lines; Tumor cells; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms - drug therapy; cancer; biological activity; chayote; Perla Negra
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu9080798

The
Perla Negra cultivar is a recently-obtained biological material whose progenitors are
var.
and
var.
the latter of which has been reported to have antiproliferative activity against the HeLa P-388 and L-929 cancer cell lines. The present study aimed to determine if the methanolic extract of the fruit of the Perla Negra cultivar had the same biological activity. The methanolic extract was phytochemically characterized by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and column chromatography (CC), identifying the terpenes and flavonoids. The compounds identified via high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were Cucurbitacins B, D, E, and I for the terpene fractions, and Rutin, Phlorizidin, Myricetin, Quercetin, Naringenin, Phloretin, Apigenin, and Galangin for the flavonoid fractions). Biological activity was evaluated with different concentrations of the methanolic extract in the HeLa cell line and normal lymphocytes. The methanolic extract inhibited the proliferation of HeLa cells (IC
1.85 µg·mL
), but the lymphocytes were affected by the extract (IC
30.04 µg·mL
). Some fractions, and the pool of all of them, showed inhibition higher than 80% at a concentration of 2.11 µg·mL
. Therefore, the biological effect shown by the methanolic extract of the Perla Negra has some specificity in inhibiting tumor cells and not normal cells; an unusual feature among molecules investigated as potential biomedical agents.