Study of phytochemical, anti-microbial, anti-oxidant, and anti-cancer properties of Allium wallichii

Background: There is growing interest in the use of plants for the treatment and prevention of cancer. Medicinal plants are currently being evaluated as source of promising anticancer agents. In this paper, we have investigated the anticancer potential of plant Allium wallichii, a plant native to Nepal and growing at elevations of 2300-4800 m. This is the first study of its kind for the plant mentioned. Methods: The dried plant was extracted in aqueous ethanol. Phytochemical screening, anti-microbial assay, anti-oxidant assay, cytotoxicity assay and the flow-cytometric analysis were done for analyzing different phytochemicals present, anti-microbial activity, anti-oxidant activity and anti-cancer properties of Allium wallichii. Results: We observed the presence of steroids, terpenoids, flavonoids, reducing sugars and glycosides in the plant extract and the plant showed moderate anti-microbial and anti-oxidant activity. The IC50 values of Allium wallichii in different cancer cell lines are 69.69 mu g/ml for Prostate cancer (PC3) cell line, 55.29 mu g/ml for Breast Cancer (MCF-7) cell line and 46.51 mu g/ml for cervical cancer (HeLa) cell line as compared to Doxorubicin (0.85 mu g/ml). The cell viability assay using FACS showed that the IC(50)value of Allium wallichii for Burkitt's lymphoma (B-Lymphoma) cell line was 3.817 +/- 1.99 mg/ml. Conclusions: Allium wallichii can be an important candidate to be used as an anticancer agent. Separation of pure compounds with bioassay guided extraction, spectrometric analysis and subsequent cytotoxicity assay of the pure bioactive compounds from Allium wallichii is highly recommended as the crude extract itself showed promising cytotoxicity.