ABSTRACT
Objective: To determine the antiproliferative effect of cucurbitacin B extracted from Trichosanthes cucumerina L. on human cancer cell lines. Methods: Two human lung non-small cell (adenocarcinoma) cancer cell lines i.e., LK87, and QG95, two human colon adenocarcinoma cell lines i.e., HCT15, and HT29, including one renal cancer cell line, A498, and one pancreatic cancer cell line, NOR-P, were used in this study. The viability of cells was assessed by using WST-8 which is based on detection of LDH released from damaged cells and reacts with WST-8 to form a yellow color. Cells were treated with the compound at various concentration from 1 through 100 µg/ml. Results: The ED50 values (effective doses that are required for 50% inhibition growth of tumor cells) of the compound on human cancer cell lines ranged from approximately 69 µg/ml in HCT15 cells up to 231 µg/ml in QG95 cells. The inhibition of proliferation of this compound on these human cancer cell lines was observed to be in a dose dependent manner. Conclusion: It could be concluded from this observation that this compound has a modest direct toxic effect to these cell lines with the highest toxic effect on human colon cancer cells.