BASIL, GINGER, NEEM AND TOBACCO EXTRACTS AS ALTERNATIVE AND INTEGRATIVE TREATMENT OPTIONS FOR CANCER

Chandrakanth Emani

Western Kentucky University-Owensboro, Kentucky, USA

Abstract

The research involves characterizing the effects of diverse plant extracts such as those from basil, ginger, neem and tobacco both individually and in a synergistic combination on cell viability and proliferation simultaneously on diverse cancer cell cultures in a single study. An initial pilot study where three different cell types (colon, cervical and lung) were treated with basil extract indicated decreased cell proliferation, where basil extract at a concentration of 3. 75% does elicit a decreased rate of proliferation in A549 (lung cancer) cells, when treated for 48 hours. However, this same concentration appears to be cytotoxic in HT29 (colon cancer) cells. In HeLa (cervical cancer) cells there is no change in cell number during a 48-hour treatment. Further studies with ginger, neem and tobacco extracts showed that they reduce cell proliferation in all cancer cell lines tested. Ginger had a global cytotoxic effect on all cell lines tested. All four plant extracts show cytotoxic effects on leukemic and breast cancer cells. A significant finding that is also a first report of its kind is in establishing tobacco extract as a potential therapeutic option for diverse cancers. Additionally, results of PCR arrays with apoptosis factors such as BCl-2, Bad, Bak, FAS and FAS-ligand, and cell cycle regulators such as cyclin D1, D2, D3, A and B will be presented as a molecular basis for the phytopharmaceutical effects. Within this innovative research study, the investigators have identified modules within individual experiments that can be effectively utilized to train undergraduate and high school students in key aspects of mammalian and plant cell biology and biochemistry including phytochemistry, cell cycle processes and cellular growth and vitality.

Keywords: Plant extracts, cancer treatment, basil, ginger, neem, tobacco.