Anticancer extracts of Alpinia officinarum hance

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The disclosure of the present patent application relates to plant extracts, and particularly to anticancer extracts of Alpinia officinarum Hance.

2. Description of the Related Art

Cancers are often fatal and have a demonstrated ability to either evade or develop resistance to traditional therapies. Common therapies include surgery, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy. Depending upon the type and location of the cancer, surgery is frequently either impossible or insufficient. Chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and immunotherapy have demonstrated significant potential for certain patients with certain cancers, but rarely offer a cure. Further, these treatments often produce harmful side effects, and may even prove fatal for some patients.

Plants are a common source of new medicines, including many pharmaceutical drugs currently used to treat cancer. Compounds isolated from plants include Irinotecan, Vincristine, and Paclitxel, amongst others.

Plants of the Zingiberaceae family are found in many Asian countries. Some members of this family have been used in traditional or herbal medicine, including as antiseptics, anti-allergic agents, and anti-itching agents. Plants of the genus Alpina are thought to be a potential source of many bioactive molecules, including alkaloids, steroids, sterols, glycosides, flavonoids, tannins, and triterpenoids. Alpinia officinarum Hance is a species of the Zingiberaceae family, which is widely used as a spice. The rhizomes of Alpinia officinarum Hance have been used in traditional medicine as a digestive aid and are prized for their aromatic flavors and scents.

Although chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery are effective in treating some forms of cancer, there is still a great need for other forms of therapy that have less risk and fewer side effects. Thus, anticancer extracts of Alpinia officinarum Hance solving the aforementioned problems is desired.

SUMMARY

The anticancer extracts of Alpinia officinarum Hance are ethanol extracts of dried Alpinia officinarum Hance rhizomes. The rhizomes may be washed, dried, and ground into a powder. The powder may be extracted by percolation in ethanol for two days. The mare is extracted four times by the same procedure, and the combined extracts are concentrated at low temperature and reduced pressure. The total alcohol may be concentrated into a gummy residue. The residue may then be suspended in water and filtered to produce an aqueous filtrate. The aqueous filtrate may be lyophilized to produce a dry sterile extract. This dry sterile extract may then be rehydrated in an appropriate volume of a liquid, such as water, to obtain a desired extract dose.

These extracts may be administered to a patient in need thereof to treat cancer by killing cancer cells or reducing growth of the cancer. The cancer cells may be human cancer cells. The cancer being targeted may be lung cancer, colon cancer, cervical cancer, or prostate cancer.

These and other features of the present disclosure will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a graph of cell viability of A-549 (Lung carcinoma) cells exposed to different concentrations of anticancer extracts of Alpinia officinarum Hance.

FIG. 1B is a graph of cell viability of A-549 cells exposed to different concentrations of the drug Vinblastine Sulfate.

FIG. 2A is a graph of cell viability of CACO (colorectal carcinoma) cells exposed to different concentrations of anticancer extracts of Alpinia officinarum Hance.

FIG. 2B is a graph of cell viability of CACO cells exposed to different concentrations of the drug Vinblastine Sulfate.

FIG. 3A is a graph of cell viability of HCT-116 (Colon carcinoma) cells exposed to different concentrations of anticancer extracts of Alpinia officinarum Hance.

FIG. 3B is a graph of cell viability of HCT-116 cells exposed to different concentrations of the drug Vinblastine Sulfate.

FIG. 4A is a graph of cell viability of HeLa (Cervical carcinoma) cells exposed to different concentrations of anticancer extracts of Alpinia officinarum Hance.

FIG. 4B is a graph of cell viability of HeLa cells exposed to different concentrations of the drug Vinblastine Sulfate.

FIG. 5A is a graph of cell viability of PC3 (prostate cancer) cells exposed to different concentrations of anticancer extracts of Alpinia officinarum Hance.

FIG. 5B is a graph of cell viability of PC3 cells exposed to different concentrations of the drug Vinblastine Sulfate.

Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The anticancer extracts of Alpinia officinarum Hance are ethanol extracts of Alpinia officinarum Hance rhizomes. The rhizomes may be washed, dried, and ground into a powder. The powder is extracted by percolation in ethanol for two days. The marc is extracted in ethanol four times, and the total alcohol extracts are concentrated into a gummy residue. The residue may then be suspended in water and filtered to produce an aqueous filtrate. The aqueous filtrate may be lyophilized to produce a dry sterile extract. This dry sterile extract may then be rehydrated in an appropriate volume of a liquid, such as water, to obtain a desired extract dose.

The Alpinia officinarum Hance rhizomes may be dried rhizomes harvested in Indonesia. The percolation may be performed in 95% ethanol for a period of about two days, then filtered, and the marc was extracted four times in the same manner.

As an extraction method, percolation is used to achieve complete extraction of desired constituents. Percolation allows a gravity driven flow of fresh, unsaturated solvent to flow through the source material. Percolation may be performed using any combination of equipment allowing for gravity driven extraction through a filter to progress over time. Percolation is typically performed using a percolating cone or "percolator", including an upper chamber for the filter, extraction substrate, and solvent, and a lower chamber to collect the extract solution. Alternatively, percolation may be performed using a Soxhlet extractor.

The anticancer extracts of Alpinia officinarum Hance may be administered to a patient in need thereof to kill cancer cells. The cancer cells may be human cancer cells. The cancer cells being targeted may be lung cancer, colon cancer, cervical cancer, or prostate cancer.

Example 1

Extraction of Alpina officinarum Hance Rhizomes

Dried rhizomes of Alpinia officinarum Hance harvested in Indonesia were obtained. The Rhizomes were washed, dried in an oven at about 45.degree. C., and ground to a powder. About 200 g of the powder was then extracted by percolation in 2 liters of 95% ethanol for about 2 days. The resulting solution was then filtered over filter paper, and the marc was collected and extracted a further four times by repetition of the extraction and filtration steps. The total alcohol extracts from each extraction were then collected and concentrated in a rotary evaporator at a temperature not exceeding 25.degree. C., producing about 35 g of gummy residue. The residue was then dissolved in about 200 ml deionized water and filtered using MicroFunnel.TM. Filter Funnels and a suction pump to prevent microbial contamination, producing an aqueous filtrate. The aqueous filtrate was then lyophilized, producing about 20 g of dry sterile extract. This extract was then diluted ten times and tested for anticancer activity and toxicity.

Example 2

Anticancer Testing

Briefly, the cell lines were suspended in medium at concentration of about 5.times.10.sup.4 cells per well in Corning.RTM. 96-well tissue culture plates and incubated for about 24 hours. Extracts prepared according to Example 1 were rehydrated, diluted ten times, and each dilution was added to a well of a 96-well plate (using six replicates). Six vehicle controls with media or 0.5% DMSO were run for each 96 well plate as a control. After incubation for about 24 hours, the number of viable cells was determined by the MTT assay method. Briefly, the media was removed from the 96-well plates and replaced with about 100 .mu.l of fresh culture RPMI 1640 medium without phenol red, then about 10 .mu.l of about 12 mM MTT (Sigma) stock solution (5 mg of MTT in about 1 mL of PBS) was added to each well, including the untreated controls. The 96-well plates were then incubated at about 37.degree. C. and at about 5% CO.sub.2 for about 4 hours. An 85 .mu.l aliquot of the media was removed from the wells, and 50 .mu.l of DMSO was added to each well and mixed thoroughly with the pipette and incubated at about 37.degree. C. for about 10 minutes. The optical density was measured at 590 nm with a microplate reader to determine the number of viable cells. The percentage of viability was calculated as: (ODt/ODc).times.100%, where ODt is the mean optical density of wells treated with the tested sample and ODe is the mean optical density of untreated cells.

The relation between surviving cells and extract concentration was plotted to obtain the survival curve of each tumor cell line after treatment with the specified extract. The 50% inhibitory concentration (IC.sub.50), the concentration required to cause toxic effects in 50% of intact cells, was estimated from graphic plots of the dose response curve for each concentration using Graphpad Prism software (San Diego, Calif. USA).

The in vitro antitumor activities of Alpinia officinarum Hance extract were evaluated on five cell lines. The results obtained exhibited direct cytotoxic effect with a dose-dependent effect (FIGS. 1A-5A and Table 1) with variable inhibiting effect on the growth of the listed cell lines, as compared to vinblastine sulfate (FIGS. 1B-5B and Table 1).

The highest anticancer effect of Alpinia officinarum Hance, was recorded on A-549 (Lung carcinoma) cells and CACO (colorectal carcinoma) cells (FIGS. 1A-2B). The IC.sub.50 results were 6.72.+-.0.5 and 7.6.+-.0.3 .mu.g/ml for A-549 and CACO, respectively. These effects were improved when compared to the drug vinblastine sulfate, which had an IC.sub.50 of 24.6.+-.0.7 and of 30.3.+-.1.4 .mu.g/ml for A-549 and CACO, respectively.

The extracts demonstrated promising results for inhibiting the other three cell lines (HCT-116 (Colon carcinoma), HeLa (Cervical carcinoma), and PC3 (prostate cancer)). The IC.sub.50 of the extract in HeLa (FIG. 4A) was improved (24.5.+-.1.1 .mu.g/ml) when compared to vinblastine sulfate (59.7.+-.2.1 .mu.g/ml) (FIG. 4B).

The lowest effect was recorded on PC3 (prostate cancer), but the recorded IC.sub.50 of 50.+-.2.4 .mu.g/ml (FIG. 5A) still appears promising when compared with the standard drug, vinblastine sulfate (IC.sub.50 21.2.+-.0.9 .mu.g/ml) (FIG. 5B).

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 IC.sub.50 values of Alpinia officinarum Hance rhizome extract v. vinblastine sulfate Cell Line Total Alcohol Extract Vinblastine Sulfate A-549 (Lung carcinoma) 6.72 .+-. 0.5 24.6 .+-. 0.7 CACO (Colorectal 7.6 .+-. 0.3 30.3 .+-. 1.4 carcinoma) HCT-116 (Colon 32.3 .+-. 1.1 3.5 .+-. 0.2 carcinoma) Hela (Cervical carcinoma) 24.5 .+-. 1.1 59.7 .+-. 2.1 Pc3 (Prostate cancer) 50 .+-. 2.4 21.2 .+-. 0.9

Example 3

Toxicity Testing

Dried alcohol extracts of Alpinia officinarum Hance rhizomes prepared according to Example 1 were suspended in distilled water (freshly just before administration) using drops of Tween 80 as emulsifying agent. The suspended extracts were then given to animals orally at doses ranging from about 500 mg/kg to about 5,000 mg/kg to measure the median lethal dose (LD.sub.50). Therefore, LD.sub.50 of the tested extracts, up to 5000 mg/kg, is considered safe for human use

For determination of sub-chronic toxicity, rats were divided into 2 groups each of 6 rats. The first group was orally administrated the vehicle to act as a control, while the second group was orally administered suspended extracts at doses of about 500 mg/kg per day for 15 days. After the examination period, sera were collected to test for liver and kidney function.

All values are expressed as mean.+-.S.D. Comparisons between means were carried out using a one-way ANOVA test, followed by the Tukey HSD test using SPSS, version 14 (SPSS, Chicago, Ill.). Differences at p<0.05 were considered statistically significant

The sub-chronic toxicity testing also supported the safety of the rhizome extract. The oral dose of about 500 mg/kg per day did not affect the levels of ALT, AST, total bilirubin, total proteins, albumin, urea, and creatinine as compared to the control (Table 2). Therefore, the extracts are not considered hepatotoxic.

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Sub-chronic Toxicity Testing Results Total Total ALT AST Bilirubin Protein Albumin Urea Creatine (U/L) (U/L) (mg/dL) (g/dL) (g/dL) (mg./dL) (mg/dL) Control 59.15 .+-. 1.3 48.60 .+-. 1.2 1.70 .+-. 0.6 8.70 .+-. 0.8 3.9 .+-. 0.3 37.66 .+-. 1.4 0.49 .+-. 0.6 Extract 58.12 .+-. 1.1 47.91 .+-. 1.3 1.69 .+-. 0.2 8.50 .+-. 0.5 3.8 .+-. 0.4 36.53 .+-. 1.5 0.50 .+-. 0.5

It is to be understood that the anticancer extracts of Alpina officinarum Hance are not limited to the specific embodiments described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the generic language of the following claims enabled by the embodiments described herein, or otherwise shown in the drawings or described above in terms sufficient to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the claimed subject matter.