In vitro cytotoxic and cytostatic activities of plants used in traditional Arabic herbal medicine to treat cancer in Palestine

The spreading of cancer is increasing over the world and the percentage of deaths caused by this fatal disease is rising especially in the developing countries. Scientists and researchers are now giving more of their attention to the herbal medicine to provide treatment for more difficult diseases like cancer due to the fact that the treatments of cancer patients with chemical therapy have serious side effects. Recently herbal medicines are coming to play a more vital role in the reduction and prevention of cancer. The rapid interest in traditional Arabic herbal medicine (TAHM) worldwide stimulated by many factors mainly, that herbal products are safe and economical. This current study investigates traditional Arabic Herbal Medicine the in vitro cytotoxic and cytostatic of anticancer medicinal plants. Two medicinal plant extracts, Cyclamen persicum corm and Quercus calliprinos, were prepared using ethanol in water from the leaves of plants, barks and fruits. The selection of these plants was done based on recent survey that revealed their medicinal value in the treatment of cancer. The ethanolic extracts were screened for cytostatic effects against healthy mouse macrophages and both cytotoxic and cytostatic activities against three cancer cell lines (human lung: fibroblast, mouse -macrophage Raw 264-7, human prostate: cell line PC3) using MTT test. C. persicum corm extracts showed cytotoxicity for normal and all three cancer cell lines tested at concentrations than 62.5µg/ml. In comparison to C. persicum all three Q. calliprinos extracts showed lower cytotoxicity at all tested concentrations. It is concluded that, for these medicinal plants, the traditional uses as antitumor effects are the result may be of cytotoxic but not of cytostatic properties of these plants.