Antiproliferative and anticancer activities of Neurada procumbens L. against epithelial carcinoma and breast cancer cell lines

Neurada procumbens L. commonly called as sand button, is used as a medicinal herb by Bedouin in the Arabia Peninsula for heart and respiratory functions. This little known plant has not been investigated in detail for its biological activities. Hence, we have made an attempt to investigate the plant for its anticancer activities. Methanol and chloroform extracts of N. procumbens were evaluated for antiproliferative and anticancer activities in HEp-2 and MCF-7 cancer cell lines. Human foreskin epithelial cells showed an IC50 value of 34 mu g and 149 mu g for chloroform and methanol extracts, respectively. The chloroform extract of N. procumbens @3 mu g showed 50% reduction of HEp-2 cell population in 24 h, while 5.5 mu g showed similar effects in MCF-7 cells. The results of the methanol extracts were little varied, where 49 mu g showed slow inhibition of HEp-2 cells over a period of 72 h. In another similar observation, 76 mu g of methanol extract inhibited 50% MCF-7 cell proliferation. The concentrations which could inhibit complete turnover of the experimental cancer cell lines at 24 h were >5 mu g and 6 mu g of chloroform extract and > 60 mu g and 80 mu g of methanol extract for HEp-2 and MCF-7, respectively. The micro therapeutic index of methanol extract in HEp-2 and MCF-7 were 3 and 1.9, while chloroform extract was 11.3 and 6.1. This is an initial observation of N. procumbens that shows antiproliferative activities against cancer cell lines.