• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.281-290
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• 2018

Background: Lung cancer, the most common malignant disease worldwide, is the predominant cause of cancer deaths, particularly amongst men. Therefore, various researchers have focused on the growth inhibitory effects of medicinal plants used in traditional Korean medicine. This study aimed to investigate the growth inhibitory effects of ethanol extracts of Rubiae radix, Inulae flos, Nelumbinis receptaculum, Astilbe radix, and Lagerstroemia flos on NCI-H1229 cells. Method and Results: The viability of NCI-H1229 cells was evaluated in vitro using an MTS assay. Treatment with the ethanol extracts of the selected medicinal plants at $500{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ reduced NCI-H1229 cell viability and increased apoptotic cell death and caspase-3 activation. In addition, treatment with ethanol extracts of Inulae flos and Astilbe radix increases DNA fragmentation, as measured by the TUNEL assay. Conclusions: These results indicated that ethanol extracts of Rubiae radix, Inulae flos, Nelumbinis receptaculum, Astilbe radix, and Lagerstroemia flos exhibited growth inhibitory effects, inducing apoptotic cell death, DNA fragmentation and caspase-3 activation in NCI-H1229 cells. Therefore, these medicinal plant extracts may be used in the development of natural medicines to inhibit the growth of lung cancers. However, further study is needed to determine the active ingredients of the ethanol extracts from medicinal plants that are reposible for the inhibitory effect on lung cancer cell grwoth.