Anti-Cancer Compound Screening and Isolation: Coscinium fenestratum, Tinospora crispa and Tinospora cordifolia

The isolations of active anti-cancer compounds from Coscinium fenestratum, Tinospora crispa and Tinospora cordifolia are rarely reported. In this study, the isolation of anti-cancer compound from these herbs was performed. Cytotoxic activity of the water and methanol extracts of these herbs were evaluated. The methanol extract of C. fenestratum showed the most cytotoxic activity, and contained a major compound of berberine with 3.68%. Cytotoxic screening of berberine against ten cancer cell lines and one normal cell (PMBC) showed the most cytotoxic activity against HL-60 leukemia cells with an IC(50) of 1.41 +/- 0.7 mu g/mL. The selective index (SI) value of berberine against HL-60 cells and PBMC cells were 0.142, indicating the selective cytotoxicity to cancer cells. Interestingly, berberine uptake by cancer cell correlated with cytotoxic activity. In addition, the apoptosis of HL-60 cells against berberine were detected by DAPI staining, and quantitated by Annexin V-FITC staining. Berberine, the effective compound from C. fenestratum, appears to possess anticancer potential.