The anti-neoplastic activity of Artemisia afra in breast cancer cell lines

Worldwide, breast cancer is responsible for over 600 000 deaths annually and is the most common cancer in women. Current treatments for breast cancer have distressing drawbacks, such as multidrug resistance and adverse side effects. Plants are a rich source of chemotherapeutic drugs and many current anticancer drugs are derived from plants. Artemisia afra (African wormwood) is a very popular herbal medicine in South Africa and is used for the treatment of a vast variety of medical conditions. Recently, the in vitro activity against lung cancer cell lines has been demonstrated, and this study aims to corroborate and expand on this recently reported anticancer activity. The level of in vitro cytotoxicity and anticancer activity of A. afra infusions, frac-tions and pure major compounds identified in the infusions were tested against a panel of breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7, BT-20 and MDA-MB-231) and two non-cancerous cell lines (Vero and HaCaT) to determine the cytotoxic specificity. All infusion samples tested, exhibited an effect on the viability of the cancer cells, with an infusion sample collected at Bronkhorstspruit proving the most active. Dichloromethane and hexane liq-uid partitioned fractions of this infusion sample exhibited activity classified as highly active against the MDA-MB-231 cell line, affording IC50 values of 4.5 ug/mL and 4.7 ug/mL, respectively. None of the major compounds identified in the infusion showed this level of activity, indicating that a minor, non-polar, and as of yet unidentified compound, is likely responsible for the observed activity.(c) 2023 SAAB. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide, resulting in over 600,000 deaths annually. Current treatments have disadvantages like drug resistance and side effects. The plant Artemisia afra, a popular herbal medicine in South Africa, has shown anticancer activity against lung cancer cells, and this study aims to further investigate this activity in breast cancer cells.