VERNONIA AMYGDALINA

Anticancer Research

Vernonia amygdalina (VA) (also called as African tea) is a small shrub from themember of the Asteraceae family that is widely available in the regions of tropicalAfrica. The aqueous extracts of VA, a bitter leaf plant, have been shown to be morethan 1400 times more efficacious as an anticancer agent than some other plantextracts reported (Izevbigie 2003; Izevbigie et al. 2004). Aqueous extracts of VAhave many known beneficial activities including antioxidant, hypoglycemic/antidiabetic,antibacterial, hepatoprotective, analgesic, gastric secretory, amoebicidal andphytotoxic actions (Ijeh and Ejike 2011). It was already shown that aqueous extractof VA inhibits the proliferation of tamoxifen-resistant PC3 prostate cancer cells bymodifying the expressions of MAPK, c-Myc, AKT and Pgp (Cameron et al. 2013).The aqueous extract of VA leaf reduces cell proliferation of estrogen receptor-positive(ER+), estrogen receptor-negative (ER?) and triple-negative human breastcarcinoma cells, as well as PC-3 androgen-independent prostate adenocarcinomacells, a broader range than has been described with other anticancer agents, promotingapoptosis in BC and prostate cancer cells with no effect on normal humanperipheral blood mononuclear cells (Howard et al. 2003, 2011). Recently, theyreported aqueous extract of VA showed a significant reduction in tumour volume in the MDA-MB-468 cell-induced tumours. They also showed aqueous extract of VAinduced intrinsic mode of apoptosis in MDA-MB-468, MDA-MB-231 and HCC-1806cells (Howard et al. 2016). They concluded that aqueous VA extracts induceapoptosis, exhibit additive effects, inhibit tumour growth and display chemopreventiveactions against TNBC.