The College of Pharmacy discussed the PhD dissertation entitled “Phytochemical Investigation and Cytotoxic Activity of Different Fractions of Arum maculatum (Family: Araceae) Wild Grown in Iraq” by the student Elham Hassan Kareem and Supervisor, Assistant Professor Dr. Amjad Haseeb Khamees, at Pharmacognosy and Medicinal Plants Department.
The study aimed to investigate the phytochemical constituents of Arum maculatum leaves in Iraq, isolate their active compounds, and evaluate their cytotoxic activity against cancer cells.
The study included the extraction of plant leaves using a continuous extraction apparatus, along with the use of an ultrasonic bath to enhance extraction efficiency. Subsequently, the active compounds were isolated using several advanced separation techniques, including flash chromatography, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) applied to various extracts, and preparative thin-layer chromatography. The isolated compounds were characterized based on a set of analytical techniques, including Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H-NMR), the standard addition method, and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Cytotoxic activity was then evaluated in vitro for chloroform and ethyl acetate extracts against several cancer cell lines, including breast cancer cells, colon cancer cells, and epithelial colorectal cancer cells. The effects of these extracts were also compared with their impact on normal cells, including neonatal human dermal fibroblasts and normal fibroblasts derived from adipose tissue. In addition, the results were compared with the effects of two anticancer drugs, cisplatin and tamoxifen.
The results showed that the chloroform extract exhibited strong cytotoxic activity against breast cancer cells and moderate activity against colon cancer cells, without showing any toxic effect on normal skin cells. In contrast, the ethyl acetate extract demonstrated lower cytotoxic activity against the studied cancer cell lines and didn’t exhibit toxicity toward normal cells, with an overall effect relatively weaker than that of the chloroform extract. These findings indicate that Arum maculatum is a rich natural source of bioactive phytochemicals, making it a promising plant with anticancer properties due to its ability to selectively affect cancer cells, particularly breast and colon cancer cells, without causing damage to normal cells.
The study recommends conducting further qualitative and quantitative analyses of the plant extracts, isolating compounds with higher therapeutic efficacy, and investigating their effects on other types of cancer cells to confirm their cytotoxic activity and potential future use in anticancer therapeutic applications.
