TY  - BOOK
AU  - Arya Krishna
AU  - Sindura K P(Guide)
TI  - Molecular mechanism of the cytotoxic activity of Pogostemon quadrifolius (Benth.)
U1  - 660.6 
PY  - 2022///
CY  - Vellayani
PB  - Department of Plant Biotechnology, College of Agriculture
KW  - Plant Biotechnology
N1  - BSc - MSc (Int.)
N2  - The study entitled “Molecular mechanism of the cytotoxic activity of 
Pogostemon quadrifolius (Benth.)” was carried out in the Department of Plant 
Biotechnology, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram during 2021 -
2022. The objective of this study was to evaluate the cytotoxic effect of P. quadrifolius
(Benth.) leaf extract on cancer cells and to elucidate its action on genes of apoptotic 
pathway. P. quadrifolius (Benth.) is a shrub belonging to the family Lamiaceae and 
there are preliminary reports on antiproliferative effect of P. quadrifolius (Benth.) leaf 
extract in chronic myelogenous leukemia cancer cells and prostate cancer cells. 
However, the molecular mechanism of its cytotoxicity is not yet understood. 
 P. quadrifolius (Benth.) leaves were dried and then extracted with methanol, 
53.2 mg/g of crude extract was obtained from powdered leaf sample. Cytotoxic effect 
of the leaf extract was evaluated by MTT assay in human lung (A549), breast cancer 
cell line (MDA-MB -231) and normal cell line HEK 293. The extract showed dose 
dependent reduction in cell survival percentage and IC 50 values were found to be 48.01 
µg/ml and 75.38 µg/ml for lung and breast cancer respectively, while it was non-toxic 
towards normal cells in the above dosage. The leaf extract also inhibited the colonyforming ability of cancer cells in the clonogenic assay which was indicative of the 
extract’s ability to affect cell survival and proliferation. DNA isolated from the 
methanolic leaf extract treated cells when subjected to DNA fragmentation assay was 
seen sheared which is an indication of apoptosis in those cells. Expression profiling of 
the key apoptotic genes BAX, CASPASE 3, CASPASE 9, PARP and BCL2 showed 
upregulation of BAX, CASPASE 9 and CASPASE 3 in the treated cells. The antiapoptotic genes BCL2 and PARP1 were downregulated and also the BAX/ BCL2 ratio 
was found to be greater than 1 which confirms that active apoptosis is happening in 
cancer cells upon treatment with leaf extract. 
 Cytotoxic effect of methanolic leaf extract of P. quadrifolius (Benth.) on 
lung and breast cancer cells were elucidated and the gene expression analysis revealed 
that the mechanism of cytotoxicity is via apoptosis. The findings suggest that the leaf 
extract of P. quadrifolius (Benth.) can be a potent candidate for development of cancer 
chemotherapeutics after further advanced research.

UR  - https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810208357
ER  -