Antimutagenic Activities of Anisosciadium lanatum Extracts Could Predict the Anticancer Potential in Different Cell Lines

In spite of the tremendous progress in the development of anticancer drugs yet the cancer is still one of the leading causes of death worldwide in addition to the economic and social burdens it causes. The high cost of chemotherapy, the resistance development and the severe adverse effects mandate the continuous screening for novel, cheap, and safe anticancer drugs. In our efforts to expedite the screening process in botanical extracts, we analyzed the flavonoid, lycopene, β-carotene, and chlorophyll a and b in four different extracts from Anisosciadium lanatum with different polarities in addition to the essential oil. In addition, we have also measured the antioxidant, peroxide and superoxide scavenging activities of the extracts and oil. We have also estimated the antimutagenic activities of these extracts in Salmonella typhimurium using Ames test against two mutagens; sodium azide (NaN3) and benzo(a)pyrene (B(a)P). All these features and measurements of the extracts were correlated with their anticancer activities in 5 cell lines; liver, lung, colon, breast, and prostate. The phytochemical and antioxidants studies did not precisely predict the potential anticancer activity of extracts or at least what is performed in the current study. Collectively, the antimutagenic activities of the extracts along with the reductions in mutant frequency reported correlates well with the anticancer activities. Therefore, we believe that the antimutagenic activity along with phytochemical analysis could serve as a plausible surrogate in the prediction of potential anticancer activity in the process of screening botanical extracts.