Abstract:
The aim of this study was to determine the anticancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antiviral activities of traditionally used medicinal plants.The extracts were tested for cytotoxicity against human melanoma (A375), epidermoid carcinoma (A431), cervical epithelial carcinoma (HeLa) and human embryonic kidney cells (HEK-293). The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities were also determined. Gomphocarpus fruticosus, Helichrysum kraussii and Syzygium jambos were selected for activity against the herpes simplex virus type-1.The extracts exhibited low toxicity towards HEK-293 cells, and four extracts; namely Acacia mellifera, G. fruticosus, H. kraussii and S. jambos, were able to inhibit the A431 and HeLa cells with 50% inhibitory concentrations (IC50) ranging from 34.90-56.20μg/ml. Arbutus unedo, Combretum molle, Dissotis princeps, Erythrophleum lasianthum, Harpephyllum caffrum, H. kraussii and S. jambos, showed high DPPH inhibitory activity, with IC50 values ranging from 2.41-5.25μg/ml. The highest antioxidant activity was seen for S. jambos (DPPH) and A. unedo (NO) respectively with greater activity than ascorbic acid. D. princeps, H. caffrum, Leucas martinicensis and S. jambos, showed high inhibition of the cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) enzyme with IC50 values ranging from 3.79-25.80μg/ml with S. jambos showing the highest activity. S. jambos further showed the highest anti-HSV-1 activity at 50.00μg/ml against 100TCID50virus challenge dose.This is the first report of the selected plants for their cytotoxicity, anti-inflammatory and viral inhibitory activity. S. jambos was able to show high inhibition of the HPV type-1 virus and the COX-2 enzyme.
