Cytotoxic activity of thirteen endemic and rare plants from Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province in Iran

Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province is a most important endemism states of flora of Iran with a considerable plant species diversity in the country. In the present study the cytotoxic activity of 13 plant species grown in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari have been evaluated on prostate (PC-3), breast (MCF-7), liver (HepG2), ovary (CHO) and melanoma (B16-F10) cancer cell lines. The cytotoxicity and apoptotic activity of methanol extracts was valuated using resazurin reagent and flow cytometry of PI stained cells, respectively. Methanol extracts of Dionysia sawyeri, Stachys obtusicrena and Cicer oxyodon on CHO cell line (p <0.05) and D. sawyer and Linnum album on B16/F10 cell line (p <0.05) showed significant cytotoxic effects and increased apoptosis. It is generally suggested that plant species with low IC50 values are likely to be used as anti-cancer compounds in reducing cancer progression in scientific studies.