Anticancer effect of compounds from aloe turkanensis

Abstract

Aloe turkanensis is a shrub and is commonly grown in the north - western Kenya and in the Karamajo district of Uganda. The lea f exudates and the roots of A. turkanensis is used tradition ally to wound healing, to cure eye disea se and to relief from headache. The rhiz omes and leaves extracts of A. turkanensis were subjected to chromatographic separations which resulted in the isolation of twelve compounds. The structures of the isolated comp ounds were determined using spectroscopic methods including 1D and 2D NMR and MS. These compounds were two naphthoquinones seven anthraquinones, a preanthraquinone, a pyrone derivative and a benzoic acid derivative. The in - vitro anticancer activities of th e isolated compounds were conducted against the human extra hepatic bile duct (TFK - 1) and liver (HuH7) cancer cell lines. Based on the 3 - [4,5 - dimethylthiazol - 2 - yl] - 2 - ,5 - diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, six compounds showed potent anticancer activit y against extra hepatic bile duct cancer (TFK - 1) cell line and strong effect against hepatocellular cancer (HuH7) cell lines. The other six compounds also significantly inhibited TFK - 1 cell line. This is the first report on the anticancer activity of the isolated compounds against extra hepatic bile duct (TFK - 1) and liver (HuH7) cancer cell lines.