Preliminary Research Regarding the Antitumor Effects of Mistletoe on A2780 Cells

In Europe, mistletoe extract (Viscum album) is widely used as complementary cancer therapies. The main active component of mistletoe extract is glycoprotein, lectin, that exhibit cytotoxic effects and immunomodulatory activities. The aim of this study was to show if the mistletoe extract, rich in phenolic acids presents anti-carcinogenic potential on A2780 tumor ovarian cells. In the first part of this study, using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis we characterized phenolic acid content of mistletoe growing on Malus domestica. And, in the second part, we investigated whether by apoptosis on ovarian tumor cell line A2780 if anti-cancer effect of this extract mistletoe is induced. Cell proliferation was assessed by 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenylt-etrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The A2780 cell viability was inhibited to 87% by 50 μg/ml mistletoe extract treatment, and to 79% at 110 μg/ml extract concentration. To find out the apoptotic cell death, 4, 6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining was performed. Cells treated with mistletoe (110 μg/ml) for 24 h displayed typical morphological features of apoptotic cells, with condensed and fragmented nuclei. Fluorimetric method was used to evaluate total reactive oxygen species content from A2780 ovarian tumor cells after mistletoe treatment. Mistletoe concentration 70μg/ml induces a significant toxic ROS-generating effect. These data indicates that the phenolic acids from mistletoe induce cell death by apoptosis on human tumor ovarian cell line, A2780.