Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Anticancer activity of aqueous myrrh extract alone and in combination with cisplatin in HeLa cells

Wafaa S Ramadan^1,2 , Khalid H Sait³, Nisreen M Anfinan³

¹Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; ²Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt; ³Gynecology Oncology Unit, King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

For correspondence:- Wafaa Ramadan Email: wramadhan@kau.edu.sa

Received: 31 October 2016 Accepted: 12 March 2017 Published: 30 April 2017

Citation: Ramadan WS, Sait KH, Anfinan NM. Anticancer activity of aqueous myrrh extract alone and in combination with cisplatin in HeLa cells. Trop J Pharm Res 2017; 16(4):889-896 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v16i4.21

© 2017 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To study the impact of an aqueous myrrh extract on the proliferation of cervical cancer cells in vitro.

Methods: First, 100 g of ground myrrh resin was boiled in 1000 mL of distilled water for 30 min. Different components of the decoction were identified using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and high-performance liquid chromatography. The effects of high (20 µg/mL) and low (10 µg/mL) concentrations of cisplatin, serial concentrations of myrrh (20, 40, 60, and 80 µg/mL), and a combination of both were evaluated using cell proliferation assay, DNA fragmentation, and electron microscopy.

Results: All four myrrh concentrations decreased the viability of HeLa cells (16.25 % p < 0.01). A significant further decrease occurred when myrrh was combined with 10 µg/mL cisplatin (11.42 % p < 0.01). This was confirmed by quantifying DNA fragmentation. Ultrastructurally, HeLa cells showed typical apoptosis after treatment with 10 µg/mL cisplatin or a high dose of myrrh. The use of 20 µg/mL cisplatin or the combined therapy resulted in cell necrosis with ruptured cell membranes and autophagosomes. The effect of combined therapy was more lethal than the effect of either of them alone.

Conclusion: Myrrh induces apoptosis and autophagy and enhances the activity of cisplatin in vitro. It is potentially a basis for further studies of other types of cancer cell. The clinical use of myrrh in the palliative therapy of human cervical carcinoma might be justified

Keywords: Cervical cancer, Cell viability, Chemotherapy, DNA fragmentation, Myrrh, Cisplatin, Cell ultrastructure, HeLa cells