Anticancer, antioxidant, and hepatoprotective activity of Saussurea lappa, C.B. clarke (qust) on human hepatoma cell line

Liver cancer is considered as one of the most widespread malignancies across the globe. According to a recent estimate, about 782,000 people were diagnosed with liver cancer, out of which 746,000 people died. Conventional anticancer therapy cannot fulfill all the clinical needs due to accessibility, clinical efficacy, and safety issues. Hence, the need of novel inexpensive drugs from traditional medicine as potential chemotherapeutic agent becomes utmost urgent. Root of Saussurea lappa, C.B. Clarke (Unani name, qust) has been used in the Unani medicine for the treatment of chronic liver diseases (warm-e-jigar sulb) including hepatocellular carcinoma since centuries.The objective is to study the anti-cancerous, antioxidant, and hepatoprotective activity of different extracts of SLE in vitro.MTT assay was used to determine the anticancer activity and EC50 of SLEs. Cell viability and cell inhibition were calculated. Apoptosis was studied by DAPI 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining. Thein vitro hepatotoxicity of CCl4 was produced and hepatoprotective properties of different concentrations of ethanolic (ESL), aqueous (ASL), and hydroethanolic extract of Saussurea lappa (HSL) have been evaluated by measuring cell viability in HepG2 cells.MTT assay revealed that the molecule reduced the cell viability of HepG2 cancer cells. Test drugs induced apoptosis in a concentration-dependent manner, as indicated by DAPI staining. In addition, ESL, ASL, and HSL also reduced the colony-forming potential of the HepG2 cell. ESL, ASL, and HSL were observed to protect the HepG2 cells from CCl4 induced injury in a dose-dependent manner.The observed effect substantiated the anti-cancerous, antioxidant, and hepatoprotective activity of SLEs in HepG2 Cells.