Anticancer and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of a Standardized Dichloromethane Extract from Piper umbellatum L. Leaves

Despite the advances in anticancer drug discovery field, the worldwide cancer incidence is remarkable, highlighting the need for new therapies focusing on both cancer cell and its microenvironment. The tumor microenvironment offers multiple targets for cancer therapy, including inflammation. Nowadays, almost 75% of the anticancer agents used in chemotherapy are derived from natural products, and plants are an important source of new promising therapies. Continuing our research on Piper umbellatum species, here we describe the anticancer (in vitro antiproliferative activity and in vivo Ehrlich solid tumor model) and anti-inflammatory (carrageenan-induced paw edema and peritonitis models) activities of a standardized dichloromethane extract (SDE) from P. umbellatum leaves, containing 23.9% of 4-nerolidylcatechol. SDE showed in vitro and in vivo antiproliferative activity, reducing Ehrlich solid tumor growth by 38.7 and 52.2% when doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg, respectively, were administered daily by oral route. Daily treatments did not produce signals of toxicity. SDE also reduced paw edema and leukocyte migration on carrageenan-induced inflammation models, suggesting that the anticancer activity of SDE from Piper umbellatum leaves could involve antiproliferative and anti-inflammatory effects. These findings highlight P. umbellatum as a source of compounds against cancer and inflammation.