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Antiproliferative activity of chloroformic extract of Persian Shallot, Allium hirtifolium, on tumor cell lines

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Abstract

Allium hirtifolim (Persian Shallot) belongs to Allium genus (Alliaceae family). We investigated the in vitro effects of chloroformic extract of A. hirtifolium and its Allicin on the proliferation of HeLa (cervical cancer), MCF7 (human, caucasion, breast, adenocarcinoma) and L929 (mouse, C3H/An, connective) cell lines. Our results showed that components of A. hirtifolium might inhibit proliferation of tumor cell lines. This inhibition in HeLa and MCF-7 cells was dose-dependent. The presence of Allicin was evaluated by TLC method in bulbs and the extract of A. hirtifolium was analyzed by HPLC. MTT test was performed 24, 48 and 72 h after cell culture. A significant decrease in cell lines was observed in HeLa and MCF-7 as compared to L929 cell lines. DNA fragmentation analysis revealed a large number of apoptotic cells in treated HeLa and MCF-7 cell groups, but no effects in L929 cells. Therefore A. hirtifolium might be a candidate for tumor suppression.

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Abbreviations

DMSO:

Dimethyl sulfoxide

FBS:

Fetal bovine serum

MTT:

3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide

PBS:

Phosphate-buffered saline

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics (IBB), Tehran, Iran. We thank Dr. H. Dehghani for the critical reading of the manuscript and Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics (IBB), University of Tehran, P.O. Box 13145-1384, Tehran, Iran

    Hamideh Ghodrati Azadi, Seyed Mahmood Ghaffari, Gholam Hossein Riazi & Shahin Ahmadian

  2. Vaccine and Serum Razi Research Institute, Mashhad, Iran

    Fatemeh Vahedi

Authors
  1. Hamideh Ghodrati Azadi
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  2. Seyed Mahmood Ghaffari
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  3. Gholam Hossein Riazi
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  4. Shahin Ahmadian
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  5. Fatemeh Vahedi
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Correspondence to Seyed Mahmood Ghaffari.

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Ghodrati Azadi, H., Ghaffari, S.M., Riazi, G.H. et al. Antiproliferative activity of chloroformic extract of Persian Shallot, Allium hirtifolium, on tumor cell lines. Cytotechnology 56, 179–185 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10616-008-9145-0

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