Gluconasturtiin, a glucosinolate present in watercress, is hydrolysed by myrosinase to form gluconasturtiin-isothiocyanate (GNST-ITC), which has potential chemopreventive effects; however, the underlying mechanisms of action have not been explored, mainly in human cell lines. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the cytotoxicity of GNST-ITC and to further assess its potential to induce apoptosis. GNST-ITC inhibited cell proliferation in both human hepatocarcinoma (HepG2) and human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) cells with IC50 values of 7.83 µM and 5.02 µM, respectively. Morphological changes as a result of GNST-ITC-induced apoptosis showed chromatin condensation, nuclear fragmentation, and membrane blebbing. Additionally, Annexin V assay showed proportion of cells in early and late apoptosis upon exposure to GNST-ITC in a time-dependent manner. To delineate the mechanism of apoptosis, cell cycle arrest and expression of caspases were studied. GNST-ITC induced a time-dependent G2/M phase arrest, with reduction of 82% and 93% in HepG2 and MCF-7 cell lines, respectively. The same treatment also led to the subsequent expression of caspase-3/7 and -9 in both cells demonstrating mitochondrial-associated cell death. Collectively, these results reveal that GNST-ITC can inhibit cell proliferation and can induce cell death in HepG2 and MCF-7 cancer cells via apoptosis, highlighting its potential development as an anticancer agent.
In this study, gum of Araucaria heterophylla was collected. The collected gum was subjected for extraction of polysaccharide using solvent extraction system. Thus, extracted polysaccharide was further purified using solvent method and was characterized using UV-Vis spectroscopy, Phenol sulfuric acid assay, FTIR, TGA, TLC and GC-MS. The gum derived polysaccharide was found to have the following sugars Rhamnose, Allose, Glucosinolate, Threose, Idosan, Galactose and Arabinose. The extracted polysaccharide was tested for various in-vitro bioactive studies such as antibacterial activity, antioxidant activity and anticancer activity. The polysaccharide was found to have antioxidant and anticancer activity. Further, the polysaccharide was subjected for carboxymethylation to favor the nanocarrier synthesis, where it was chelated using Sodium Tri Meta Phosphate (STMP) to form nanocarriers. The nanocarriers so formed were loaded with curcumin and were characterized using FTIR, SEM, EDX and AFM. Both the loaded and unloaded nanocarriers were studied for its in-vitro cytotoxic effect against the MCF7 human breast cancer cell lines. The nanocarriers were found to deliver the drug efficiently against the cancer cell line used in this study.