Abstract
Uncaria tomentosa
is a medicinal plant native to Peru that has been traditionally used in the treatment of various inflammatory disorders. In this study, the effectiveness of
U. tomentosa
as an anti-cancer agent was assessed using the growth and survival of B16-BL6 mouse melanoma cells. B16-BL6 cell cultures treated with both ethanol and phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) extracts of
U. tomentosa
displayed up to 80% lower levels of growth and increased apoptosis compared to vehicle controls. Treatment with ethanolic extracts of
Uncaria tomentosa
were much more effective than treatment with aqueous extracts.
U. tomentosa
was also shown to inhibit B16-BL6 cell growth in C57/bl mice in vivo. Mice injected with both the ethanolic and aqueous extracts of
U. tomentosa
showed a 59 ± 13% decrease in B16-BL6 tumour weight and a 40 ± 9% decrease in tumour size. Histochemical analysis of the B16-BL6 tumours showed a strong reduction in the Ki-67 cell proliferation marker in
U. tomentosa
-treated mice and a small, but insignificant increase in terminal transferase dUTP nick labelling (TUNEL) staining. Furthermore,
U. tomentosa
extracts reduced angiogenic markers and reduced the infiltration of T cells into the tumours. Collectively, the results in this study concluded that
U. tomentosa
has potent anti-cancer activity that significantly inhibited cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.