Journal of Ethnopharmacology

Available online 1 April 2015

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Cytotoxicity of medicinal plants of the West-Canadian Gwich׳in Native Americans towards sensitive and multidrug-resistant cancer cells

• Asuman Karadeniz^{a, b},
• Gladys Alexie^c,
• Henry Johannes Greten^{d, e},
• Kai Andersch^{f, g},
• Thomas Efferth^{a, ,}

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doi:10.1016/j.jep.2015.03.052

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Abstract

Ethnopharmacological relevance

Traditional medicine of the Native Americans has a long tradition of medicinal plants, which also influenced modern oncology. For instance, podophyllotoxin the active ingredient of Podophyllum peltatum L. (Berberidaceae) used by Native Americans to treat warts led to the development of etoposide and teniposide. In the present investigation, we studied 10 medicinal plants used by the Gwich׳in First Nation of West-Canada, which have been used against diverse diseases including cancer.

Material and methods

Sensitive and multidrug-resistant (MDR) tumor cell lines expressing various ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters (P-glycoprotein/ABCB1/MDR1, MRP1/ABCC1, or BCRP/ABCG2) have been used. Cytotoxicity was determined by the resazurin assay.

Results

Arctium minus Bernh. (Asteraceae). Lysichiton americanus Hultén & St. John (Araceae), and Maianthemum dilatatum (Alph.Wood) A.Nelson & J.F.Macbr.(Asparagaceae) were cytotoxic with IC₅₀ values ranging from 2.40 to 86.35 µg/mL. The MDR cell lines did not exert cross-resistance to these extracts.

Conclusion

As these medicinal plants of the West-Canadian Gwich׳in First Nation were not involved in classical drug resistance mechanisms and might therefore be valuable to bypass anticancer drug resistance in refractory tumors.

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Graphical abstract

Abbreviations

• MDR, multidrug resistance;
• ABC, ATP-binding cassette;
• MRP1, multidrug resistance related protein 1;
• BCRP, breast cancer resistance protein;
• MDR1, multidrug resistance gene 1 (P-glycoprotein)

Keywords

• ABC transporter;
• Cancer;
• First nations;
• Multidrug resistance;
• Pharmacognosy

Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 6131 3925751; fax: +49 6131 3923752.

Copyright © 2015 Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.