Alcoholic extracts of Epilobium, Urtica dioica and Evernia prunastri with 5-fluorouracil in controlling murine colon carcinoma cell growth in vitro

In recent years, there has been growing interest in plant-derived products for their bioactive properties., Results and Conclusion. This study aimed to verify the effect of an herbal-food supplement, comprising alcoholic extracts of Epilobium, Urtica dioica and Evernia prunastri (YATROS, Etnopharma, Turin, Italy), alone or in combination with 5-Fluorouracil, on cell growth, DNA synthesis, cell-cycle profile, cytoskeleton reorganization and E-cadherin protein expression, in the murine colon carcinoma cell line C26. Assays used were respectively the Neutral Red uptake assay, median effect analysis, tritiated thymidine incorporation, flow cytometry, Phalloidin staining, and immunohistochemistry. A chemical fingerprint and multidimensional HPLC-UV-HRMS analysis was also performed on the herbal-food supplements. Intriguingly, a substantial synergistic inhibitory effects on cell growth, DNA synthetic activity and percentage of cells in S phase were noticed when YATROS was combined with 5-Fluorouracil, reducing both dose and timing of exposure of C26 cells to the drug. Moreover, by inducing cytoskeleton reorganization and E-cadherin expression, YATROS can interfere with tumor cell invasiveness. These indications of an agonistic interaction between YATROS and 5-Fluorouracil in colon carcinoma cells may be of interest for clinical applications, and thus merit further investigation.