Title: Evaluation of Anticancer Activity of the extracts of Trichosanthes anguina L (C ucurbitaceae) by in vivo and in vitro study Author: Reaz

Mohammad Mazumdar Scientific Officer, BCSIR Laboratories Chittagong, Bangladesh One of the major causes of death in humans is Cancer or malignant disease. Accor ding to WHO (2002) 12.4% of death worldwide was due to malignant neoplasm (Mathe rs et al. 2001) and between 2000 and 2020, the total number of cases of cancer i s predicted to increase by 73% in the developing world and by 29% in the develop ed world (Parkin 2001). Herbs and plants have a long history of use in the treat ment of cancer (Hartwell 1982). However, many of the claims for the efficacy of such treatments should be viewed with some uncertainty because cancer is poorly defined in terms of folklore and traditional medicine (Cragg et al. 1994). There fore, their discovery as anticancer agents may be indirectly attributed to the o bservation of an unrelated medicinal use of the source plant. Natural products o r related substances or extracts of folk medicine accounted for 30% of the top 3 5 worldwide natural product-based drugs sold (Butler, 2004) in recent years. His torical experiences with plants as therapeutic tools have helped to introduce si ngle chemical entities in modern medicine. Plants, especially those with ethno p harmacological uses in tropical countries, have been the primary sources of medi cines for early drug discovery. In fact, a recent analysis by Fabricant and Farn sworth showed that the uses of 80% of 122 plant-derived drugs purposes (Fabrica nt and Farnsworth, 2001). Current drug discovery from folk-medicine plants has m ainly relied on bioactivity-guided isolation methods(Fabricant and Farnsworth , 2001). The most common tumors of the adult are resistant to available antineopla stic drugs (Fact sheet,1996; Yarbro JW,1992), and the majority of these agents h ave only limited anti-solid tumor activity (Yarbro JW.1992, Chabner BA 1991). So to overcome the problem screening for new active compounds from medicinal plant s following a standard method is necessity. Trichosanthes anguina L (Cucurbitace ae), called snake guard and known as Horinkan shak in chakma tribe of Banglades h. Although all parts Trichosanthes anguina are used as medicine in the tribal s ystem of medicine, the leaves, fruits and roots are the most potent for medicinal use and Chakma tribes eat the fruit as vegetable to tr eat cancer (Rahman et al. 2007). No study has been done so far to evaluate the a nticancer activity of the Trichosanthes anguina. So the study is designed To eva luate anticancer activity of extract of fruits of Trichosanthes anguina in vivo and in vitro. Aim of the study: To evaluate anticancer activity of extract of fruits of Trichosanthes anguina in Swiss Albino Mice and to evaluate its in vitro cytotoxic property on Artemia sa lina and different cell lines. Matrials and Methods: 1. Plant collection and Preparation of both traditional and non-traditional plant extracts using various extractants and solvents. 2. Cytotoxicity test (brine shrimp and cell line) (Babu et al. 1999) 3. Antitumor assay in mice The effect of extract on tumor growth and host s su rvival time will be examined by studying the parameters like tumor volume, tumor cell count, viable tumor cell count, nonviable tumor cell count, mean survival time and increase in life span.( Gothoskar & Ranadive,1971; Mazumder et al. 1997 ) 4. Determination of the IC50 values of the extracts after exposure of cance r cell lines to the extracts, using the 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-dipheny l tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. References:

Butler MS (2004) The role of natural product chemistry in drug discovery. J Nat Prod 67, 2141-2153. Babu T.D, Kuttan G, Padikkala J. Cytotoxic and antitumor property of certain tax a of Umbelliferae with special reference to Centella asiatica (L.) Urban. Journa l of Ethnopharmacology, 1995, 48, 53 57. Chabner BA. Anti-cancer drugs. (Chapter 18). In: DeVita VT Jr, Hellman S, Rosenb erg AS, eds. Cancer: Principles and Practice,Fourth Edition. Philadelphia: Lippi ncott, 1991:325-417. Cragg, G.M., Boyd, M.R., Cardellina, J.H., Newman, D.J., Snader, K.M. and McClou d, T.G. 1994. Ethnobotany and the Search for New Drugs in Ciba Foundation Symposium, Vol . 185, Chadwick, D. J. and Marsh, J. (eds.), pp. 178-196, Wiley & Sons, Chichester, U.K . Fabricant DS, Farnsworth NR (2001) The value of plants used in traditional medic ine for drug discovery. Environ Health Perspect 109, 69-75. Fact sheet. Twelve major cancers. Scientific Am 1996;275:92-98. Gothoskar S.V, Ranadive K.J. Anticancer screening of SAN-AB; an extract of marki ng nut, Semicarpus anacardium, Indian Journal of Experimental Biology, 1971, 9, 372-375. Hartwell, J.L. 1982. Plants Used Against Cancer, Quarterman, Lawrence, Massachus etts. M Atiqur Rahman, S B Uddin, CC Wilcock (2007) Medicinal Plants used by Chakma tr ibe in Hill tracts Districts of Bangladesh Indian Journal of traditional knowled ge.6(3):508-517 Matthes, H.W.D., Luu, B. and Ourisson, G. 1980. Cytotoxic components of Zingiber zerumbet, Curcuma zedoaria and C. domestica. Phytochem. 19:2643-2650. Mazumder U.K, Gupta M, Maiti S, Mukherjee M. Antitumor activity of Gygrophila sp inosa on Ehrlich ascites carcinoma and sarcoma-180 induced mice. Indian Journal of Experimental Biology, 1997, 35, 473-477. WHO. 2002. http://www.who.nt/whr/2002/whr2002-annex2.pdf. Yarbro JW. The scientific basis of cancer chemotherapy (Chapter 1). In: Perry MC , ed. The Chemotherapy Source Book. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1992:2-14. Yarbro JW. The scientific basis of cancer chemotherapy. In: Perry MC, ed. The Ch emotherapy Source Book. Baltimore:Williams & Wilkins, 1992:2-14.