Evaluation of anticancer and antimicrobial activities of selected medicinal plants of Kashmir Himalayas, India

Abstract

Medicinal plants are known for their multifarious use in folk medicine of Kashmir Himalayas, India. The present study was designed to evaluate the anticancer and antimicrobial activities of extracts of some medicinal plants. Three different types of extracts were prepared by cold maceration technique using methanol, hexane and water. Anticancer activity of extracts was determined by using Sulpharhodamine B assay on four human cancer cell lines. Antimicrobial activity was done by using microdilution method. The methanol extract of <i>Euonymus hamiltonianus</i> exhibited broad spectrum anticancer activity with IC50 value of 20, 14, 27 and 55µg/ml against Lung A-549, Colon HCT-116, Pancreatic MiaPaca and Breast MCF-7 cell lines, respectively. The lowest IC50 value of 14µg/ml was observed against Colon HCT-116 cancer cell line. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. The methanol and aqueous extracts of <i>Euphorbia wallichii</i> specifically inhibited the growth of <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> which is one of the foremost pathogens in the list of antibiotic resistant strains. The MIC values were found to be 128-256µg/ml. <i>Euonymus hamiltonianus</i> and <i>Euphorbia wallichii</i> with promising activities could act as important source of biologically active compounds.