World Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Naseef et al. SJIFResearch

World Journal of Pharmaceutical Impact Factor 7.523

Volume 6, Issue 15, 31-43. Research Article ISSN 2277– 7105

ANTICANCER, ANTIBACTERIAL, AND ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITIES

OF ARUM PALAESTINUM PLANT EXTRACTS

Hani Naseef*,1,2, Heba Qadadha2, Yara Abu Asfour2, Israr Sabri3, Fuad Al-Rimawi4,
Luay Abu-Qatouseh5 and Mohammad Farraj3

1
Samih Darwazeh Institute of Industrial Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Nursing and Health
Professions, Birzeit University, Palestine.
2
Doctor of Pharmacy Program, Faculty of Pharmacy, Nursing and Health Professions, Birzeit
University, Palestine.
3
Master Program in Clinical Laboratory Science (MCLS), Birzeit University, Birzeit,
Palestine.
4
Department of Chemistry, College of Science and Technology, Al-Quds University,
Jerusalem, Palestine.
5
Department of Pharmacology and Medical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of
Petra, Amman, Jordan.

ABSTRACT
Article Received on
27 Sept. 2017, Traditional natural remedies have long played an important role in the
Revised on 17 October 2017, treatment of cancer and infectious diseases. A part from the high cost
Accepted on 07 Nov. 2017
DOI: 10.20959/wjpr201715-10091
and undesirable side effects associated with synthetic drugs, increased
interest has intensified to determine the biological effects of plant
extracts on malignant cells as alternative for conventional drugs used
*Corresponding Author
in the markets. The medicinal properties of Arum Palaestinum Boiss
Hani Naseef
Samih Darwazeh Institute were in-vitro investigated in this research project. Arum palaestinum is
of Industrial Pharmacy, chosen based on its use in traditional palestinian herbal medicine. The
Faculty of Pharmacy, leaves of this plant were air dried in the shade and then three types of
Nursing and Health
extract were obtained and their antimicrobial and for anticancer
Professions, Birzeit
activity testing. Investigations on three different cancer cell lines
University, Palestine.
(C2Cl2, 3T3-L1, Hela) revealed direct inhibitory effect of the extracts.
This effect differs according to concentrations used. Aqueous boiled extract was more
effective at lower extract concentrations as compared to other two extracts. Arum
palaestinum plant extracts showed no inhibitory effect on bacterial species (Escherichia coli,

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Naseef et al. World Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) as well as yeasts (Candida albicans). In

conclusion, Arum palaestinum has potentially anticancer effect. Further investigations are
required to confirm this conclusion and to elucidate the mechanisms of actions and toxicity of
this herb.

KEYWORDS: Arum Palaestinum, anticancer, herbal medicine, crude extract.

INTRODUCTION
Many plants and medicinal herbal extracts are used in the treatment of various ailments.
Herbal medicine (botanical medicine or phytomedicine) is a concept used to describe the
usage of plant's roots, seeds, bark, stems, flowers, or leaves for medicinal purposes. Quality
control and analytical methods reinforced the significance of applying herbal medicine in
clinical research. Recent advances as well as proper and careful use of herbs has contributed
to the success in the treatment of various diseases.[1][2]

Herbal remedies can be utilized to manage many health problems such as facilitating
digestion, decreasing pain sensation, stimulants, increasing libido, cleansing the bowel and
many other purposes.[3] In addition, natural remedies are preferred over synthetic drugs,
which can be harmful or cause undesirable side effects. Arum palaestinum as shown in Figure
1, is one of these medicinal plants that have been frequently used in traditional medicine.[3][4]
It is widely used in traditional Arabic Palestinian herbal medicine for the treatment of diverse
disease conditions such as stomach acidity, atherosclerosis, cancer, diabetes and food
toxicity.[5]

Arum palaestinum Boiss (family: Araceae, Figure 1), is a low-growing tuberous perennial
plants, 20-60 cm tall with heart or arrow shaped leaves having bitter and burning taste. It has
an erect, slender spadix surrounded by a spathe, which is pale green with purplish spots.
Arum genus has 26 different species that are generally recognized and it is native to southern
Europe, northern Africa and has very high species diversity in the Mediterranean region.[3,4]

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Naseef et al. World Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Fig. 1: Arum palaestinum Plant, March 2016.

Many studies have investigated Arum palaestinum inhibitory effect on certain types of cancer
cells and various types of fungal and bacterial isolates.[5]–[8] The phytochemical screening of
Arum plant revealed that these plants contain polyphenols, glycosides (flavonoids, saponin
and cyanogenic groups), isoprenoids or terpenoids. Isoprenoids consist primarily from
isoprene units which exhibit antimicrobial, antiviral and antiprotozoal activities in certain
plant species.[9]

The aims of this research project were to prepare three types of crude extracts from this plant
and investigate in-vitro its anticancer, antibacterial or antifungal effects.

Furthermore, the anticancer activities of Arum palaestinum plant extracts were evaluated
against three types of cancer cell lines; The first cell line is C2C1-2 mouse myoblasts
(ATCC® CRL-1772™).[10]

The second type of cancer cell lines to be used for investigation is Hela cell line (ATCC®
CRMCCL2™), a cervix tissue taken from a black human female, 31 years old, revealing an
epithelial cell type morphology which is related to adenocarcinoma disease.[9,10] Cervical
cancer is the third most common cancer that affects women worldwide (frequency differs
between developed and non-developed Treatment for cervical cancer depends on cancer
growth, but in general it would be treated by surgery (hysterectomy and pelvic lymph nodes
removal), chemotherapy and radiation therapy.[11],[12]

The third type of cell lines is 3T3-L1 cell line (ATCC® CL-173™). It is an embryo tissue
taken from Mus musculus, mouse, revealing a fibroblast cell type morphology which is a

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Naseef et al. World Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

favored model for metabolism and obesity research since they can be chemically induced to
differentiate into adipocytes.[13]

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Microorganisms: Escherichia coli ATCC 25789, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, ATCC 9027,
Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29737 and, Candida albicans ATCC 10231.

Cancer cell lines: C2Cl2 cell line (ATCC® CRL-1772™), Hela cell line (ATCC® CRM
CCL2™) and 3T3-L1 (ATCC® CL-173™).

Chemicals: Methanol, Dichloromethane, ethanol, gentamicin, ampicillin G, amphotericin B,

trypan blue, 0.25% trypsin-EDTA solution.

Plant Extract Preparation

Leaves of Arum Palaestinum were collected from Salfeet region in the West Bank, Palestine
during the months of February and March 2015. The plant leaves were air-dried in the shade
for three weeks for appropriate phytochemical extraction. The dried leaves were then
pulverized to powder using a grinder. The resulting powder was stored at room temperature
in a well-sealed plastic container until use.

Extracts Preparation
Aqueous (boiled and cold) as well as organic (Methanol: Dichloromethane, 1:1 v/v) extracts
were prepared and tested for their activity as antimicrobial and anti-cancer agent.

Organic Extract (Methanol: Dichloromethane, 1:1 v/v)

An amount of 20g of the powdered leaves were added to 200 ml of Methanol/
Dichloromethane mixture and left at room temperature for 24 hours. The mixture was then
filtered by suction using Buchner filter cone, and filtering paper (Whatman®, 125 mm). The
accumulated paste was then soaked in absolute Methanol for 10-20 minutes at room
temperature and filtered again as above. The two filtrates were then combined and placed in
the rotary evaporator (RE300/MS) to dry under vacuum and temperature of 60oC and then
stored at -20oC until use.

Aqueous – boiled sterile distilled water

An amount of 20g of the powdered leaves were added to 200 ml boiled water and left at room
temperature for 15 minutes. The mixture was then filtered twice by suction using Buchner

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filter cone and filtering paper (Whatman®, 125 mm). The filtrate was then placed in the
rotary evaporator (RE300/MS) to dry under vacuum and temperature of 60oC and then stored
at -20oC until use.

Aqueous – cold sterile distilled water

An amount of 20g of the powdered leaves were added to 200 ml of sterile distilled water and
left at room temperature for 5 days. The mixture was then filtered twice by suction using
Buchner filter cone and filtering paper (Whatman®, 125 mm). The filtrate was then dried on
watch glass for 48 hours 25oC and then stored at -20oC until use.

Biological activity
Testing organic extract of Arum Palaestinum on bacterial and fungal isolates
Two species of Gram negative bacteria (E. coli, ATCC 25789 and P. aeruginosa, ATCC
9027), one Gram positive bacterial species (S. aureus, ATCC 29737) and one yeast species
(C. albicans, ATCC 10231) were plated on appropriate media for 24 hours.

The extract was prepared by weighting 0.32 g of organic extract and dissolved in enough
amount of DMSO (~2µL). Sterile distilled water was added to make a stock of 2000µg/ml.
This preparation was filtered by Minisart, non-pyrogenic 0.45 µm filters, for sterilization.
The stock was serially diluted to make working concentrations of: 2000 µg/ml, 1000 µg/ml,
500µg/ml, 250µg/ml, 125µg/ml, 62.5µg/ml and 31.25µg/ml.

Bacterial and candida suspensions equivalent to 0.5 McFarland standard were prepared in
sterile distilled water and swabbed immediately on the surface of MH agar. The plates were
left for 10-15 minutes to absorb the suspensions. A Whatman, 125 mm filter paper was cut
into discs of 6 mm and sterilized in the autoclave. The discs were placed on the surface of the
MH plates, and 6µl of each concentration was added to the discs. After few minutes, the
plates were incubated in an inverted position at 37o C for 24 hours in non-CO2 incubator. The
zone of inhibition was then measured in millimeters using Vernier Caliper.

Testing organic extract of Arum Palaestinum on bacterial and fungal isolates (higher
concentrations)
The same procedure mentioned above was followed but with higher concentrations. The
working concentrations were: 10000µg/ml, 8000µg/ml, 6000µg/ml, 4000µg/ml and
2000µg/ml.

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Testing of aqueous- cold sterile distilled water extract of Arum Palaestinum on bacterial
and fungal isolates.
Two species of Gram negative bacteria (E. coli, ATCC 25789 and P.aeruginosa, ATCC
9027), one Gram positive bacterial species (S. aureus, ATCC 29737) and one yeast species
(C. albicans, ATCC 10231) were plated on appropriate media for 24hours.

The extract was prepared by weighing 100mg of aqueous- cold sterile distilled water extract
and dissolved in enough amount of sterile distilled water (~1mL). The crude extract is ready
with concentration of 100µg/µl. This preparation was filtered by Minisart filter. The same
procedure was followed regarding bacterial and fungal suspension preparation. A 10 µL and
5µL were applied on 6 mm formed filter discs in order to obtain concentrations of 1000µg/ml
and 500µg/ml. A stock of 50µg/ml was also prepared, a 5µL and 2.5µL were applied in order
to obtain concentrations of 250µg/ml and 125µg/ml, respectively. In addition, a stock of
16µg/ml was prepared. A 4µL, 2µL and 1µL were applied from the later in order to obtain
concentrations of 64µg/ml, 32µg/ml and 16µg/ml, respectively on each disk of four different
species.

Testing aqueous-cold sterile distilled water extract of Arum Palaestinum on bacterial

and fungal isolates (higher concentrations)
The same procedure mentioned above was followed but with higher concentrations. The
working concentrations were: 10000µg/ml, 8000µg/ml, 6000µg/ml, 4000µg/ml and
2000µg/ml.

Testing of aqueous- boiled water extract on Arum palaestinum on bacterial and isolates.
The Same procedure mentioned above was followed, with same concentrations of aqueous-
cold sterile distilled water extracts.

Tissue culture
Cells in culture require enriched culture media that can support the growth of the cells to be
tested. These types of media usually contain fetal bovine serum that contains nutrients,
vitamins, proteins, lipids, amino acids, minerals, growth factors that are needed for cell
growth.

RPMI 1640 (Sigma, contains L-glutamine and sodium bicarbonate), supplemented with 5%
heat inactivated fetal bovine serum (FBS) and antibiotic antimycotic mixture (Sigma, 100X,

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1ml/100 ml medium) was prepared. Subsequent to cell growth and monolayer formation,
Trypsin was applied to the cell culture flasks for 5 to 10 minutes to detach cells, then
neutralized with equal amounts of complete RPMI medium. Viability was determined by
making the proper dilution of the cells (1:5) in Hank’s balanced salt solution and trypan blue
stain. The mixture was mixed gently and left at room temperature for 5-10 minutes, followed
by counting the 4 corner squares in a hemocytometer. The number of cells/ml was
determined using the following formula:
Cells/ml = dilution factor X average number of cells/square X 104

Cell line inoculation/ general procedure

Cells were removed from liquid nitrogen, rapidly thawed and cultured in 25 mm flask
containing RPMI 1640 medium supplemented as mentioned earlier and incubated in a humid
incubator at 37° C and 5% CO2. The cells were then examined under the inverted microscope
to check for adherence to the bottom of the flask and to ensure the absence of contamination.
At about 70-80% confluency, the cells were collected by adding Trypsin for 5 to 10 minutes
in the CO2 incubator and placed in a sterile conical centrifuge tube. Equal amount of RPMI
containing FBS was added to stop the action of the trypsin (FBS contains trypsin inhibitor),
and centrifuged at 1200 rpms for 7 minutes. The supernatant was then discarded; the cell
sediment was re-suspended in RPMI1640 followed by determination of the cell count and
percentage of viability using the hemocytometer. A total number of 1.0x105 cells per well
was placed in a 12 well cell culture plate and incubated under the proper conditions for 24 to
48 hours or until 70% confluence was achieved. After that, the medium was discarded, the
cells were washed with Hanks Balanced Salt Solution (HBSS) and RPMI 1640 containing the
various concentrations of the extracts was added. Following 24 hours incubation, the cells
were collected according to previously mentioned procedure and counted to determine the
total and viable counts.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In this study, the crude extract from the air-dried leaves of Arum palaestinum were tested for
its antibacterial, antifungal as well as anti-cancer effects on three cancer cell lines (C2Cl2,
3T3-L1 and Hela).

Arum palaestinum extract preparation

Leaves of Arum palaestinum were dried up in the shade and subsequently crude extracts were
obtained by various methods as described earlier. Although the same quantity of powdered

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leaves was subjected to extraction, the highest yield was obtained by the aqueous boiled
method as shown Figure 2. This could be explained mainly by the solubility of substances to
be extracted in certain types of solvents (as solubility increases, the collected amount
increase). Polarity may play an important role as well. Another possible contributing factor is
that during aqueous - boiled extraction, the plant material was soaked in boiled water.

Fig. 2: Total amount (g) of crude extracts of Arum palaestinum obtained by three
different extraction methods.

Antibacterial and antifungal activities of Arum palaestinum extracts

The inhibitory effect of the Arum Palaestinum extracts on Gram negative and Gram positive
bacterial species (E. coli, S. aureus and P. aeruginosa) were evaluated. In addition, inhibitory
effects of these extracts on the fungal isolate (Candida albicans) were also investigated.
Unfortunately, the plant extracts showed no antibacterial or antifungal activities. Having no
antimicrobial effect could be due to the absence of the active chemical component which may
exert the expected desired pharmacological effect on the bacterial and fungal isolates, or due
to low solubility of the active ingredient in the selected solvents. Our results are compatible
to those published by Husein et al. (2014) as they reported that Arum palaestinum extract
have no obvious inhibitory effects.[6] Another study conducted in Palestine on 2010 did not
reveal any antimicrobial effect of this plant species.[3] However, a study conducted in
Palestine in 2014, took advantage of advanced techniques such as HPLC and GC-MS to
isolate the phthalate compounds such as di-isobutyl phthalate and di-n-octyl phthalate form
Arum palaestinum plant with the highest concentrations were found in the leaves.[14] These
compounds have been reported to have antimicrobial activity. To provide some explanation

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for this controversy; it is possible that Araceae family of Arum palaestinum represents
secondary plant metabolites that include polyphenols and alkaloids. It is noteworthy that
some plants which belong to the same family may show different effects due to having
certain ingredients in one member of the family but not in the other.

Anticancer activities of Arum Palaestinum extracts

Cancer is a devastating health problem worldwide. It is considered as the second leading
cause of death after heart diseases globally. Chemotherapeutic agents with or without
radiation therapy or surgery are in-use today as the sole anticancer treatment. However,
chemotherapy has notable problems such as having poor selectivity that kills both normal and
malignant cells. In addition, long term treatment may cause drug-resistance. So, there is a
trend among many people toward complementary and alternative medicine and all of this in
turn rationalizes the search for potential anticancer agents from natural sources. Many studies
have confirmed the presence of anticancer activity of herbs such as Arum Palaestinum.[15]

C2Cl2 cancer cell lines

As shown in Table 1 and Figure 3, the cell count and percentage of cell inhibition of C2Cl2
cell line after application of the three different extracts of Arum Palaestinum. It is clear that
there is significant decrease in the cancer cell lines counts using the three different extracts
compared to negative control. This activity is higher at higher concentration compared to
lower ones.

It was evident that CaCL2 cell line was not significantly inhibited by the aqueous cold extract
as compared to the organic and aqueous boiled extracts. However, the inhibitory effect of the
organic extract at 512 ug/ml was higher (82%) than the aqueous boiled extract (65%). At
concentration of 256 ug/ml and lower, the inhibitory effects of both extracts were similar.

Table 1: Cell count and % inhibition of C2Cl2 cell line after the application of the three
different extract of Arum palaestinum.
Concentration % inhibition Cell/ml % inhibition Cell/ ml % inhibition Cell/ml
(µg/ml) (Organic (organic (Aqueous boiled (Aqueous (Aqueous cold (Aqueous
Cell Count extract) extract) extract) boiled extract) extract) cold extract)
512 82 12.5x 104 65 16.25 x 104 29 68.75 x 104
256 61 27.5 x 104 68 15 x 104 20 76.25 x 104
128 53 33.75 x 104 65 16.25 x 104 8 88.75 x 104
64 49 36.25 x 104 35 30 x 104 4 92.5 x 104
32 19 57.5 x 104 11 41.25 x 104 10 86.25 x 104
control (0) 0 71.25 x 104 0 46.25 x 104 0 96.25x104

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Figure 3: % Cell Viability of C2C12 cell line after the application of the three different
extracts of Arum palaestinum.

3T3L-1 cell line

Results showed that there is significant decrease in the cancer cell lines count using the three
different extracts compared to negative control. This activity increases by increasing the
concentration of the extracts. The inhibitory effects of the three extracts on 3T3L-1 cell line is
shown in Table 2 and Figure 4.

It was obvious that the pattern of inhibition of this cell line was different than the previous
one. The aqueous boiled extracted was far more influential in inhibiting the growth of this
cell line at all concentrations used as compared to the other two extracts. Furthermore, the
inhibitory effect of the aqueous cold extract on this cell line was noticeable at concentration
range of 128 to 512 ug/ml. As for the organic extract, the inhibitory effects were seen only at
the highest concentration of 512 ug/ml while the remaining concentrations had lower
inhibitory effects than the others.

Table 2: Cell count and % inhibition of 3T3L-1 cell line after the application of the
three different extract of Arum palaestinum.
Concentration Cell/ml % inhibition Cell/ ml Cell/ml
% inhibition % inhibition
(µg/ml) (organic (Aqueous (Aqueous boiled (Aqueous cold
(Organic extract) (Aqueous cold)
Cell count extract) boiled) extract) extract)
512 69 6.25 x104 71 1.2 x 104 61 1.5 x 104
256 37 12.25 x 104 71 1.2 x 104 64 1.4 x 104
128 25 15 x 104 74 1.0 x 104 45 2.3 x104
64 25 15 x 104 64 1.4 x 104 19 3.2 x 104
32 12 1.8 x 104 58 1.7 x 104 19 3.2 x 104
control (0) 0 2.0 x 105 0 3.9 x 104 0 3.9 x 104

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Figure 4: Cell count of 3T3l-1cell line after the application of Arum palaestinum three
different extracts.

Hela cell line

The results of the inhibitory effects of the extracts used on this cell line is shown in Table 3
and Figure 5. Hela cell line was significantly inhibited by the organic extract at higher
concentrations of 512 and 256ug/ml. At lower concentration its effect was similar to that
exerted by the aqueous boild extract. However, the aqueous cold extract has inhibitory effect
on the cells of 62% by its highest concentration of 512ug/ml whereas the rest of the
concentrations tested were negligible.

It is interesting to compare the activity of the three extracts on the studied cell lines using the
three method of extraction (organic, cold aqueous, and boiled aqueous). It was found that hot
aqueous extract is more effective at lower and higher extract concentration as compared to
the aqueous cold extract. An interesting and similar study that has been conducted in Egypt
reported that the hot aqueous extract exerted higher anti-cancer activity more than the organic
extract for the arum species.[16]

Table 3: Cell count of Hela cell line after the application of the three different extract of
Arum palaestinum.
Concentration % inhibition Cell/ml Cell/ ml Cell/ml
% inhibition % inhibition
(µg/ml) (Organic (organic (Aqueous (Aqueous
(Aqueous boiled) (Aqueous cold)
Cell count Extract) extract) boiled extract) cold extract)
512 81 3.8 x 104 53 1.0 x 104 62 x 104
256 75 5.0 x 104 53 1.0 x 104
27 2,4 x 104
128 56 8.8 x 104 47 1.2x 104 15 2. 5 x 104
64 37 1.3 x 104 30 1.5 x 104
8 3.0 x 104
32 31 1.4 x 104 23 1.7 x 104
0 3.3 x 104
control (0) 0 2.0 x 105 0 2.2 x 104 0 3.3 x 104

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Figure 5: Cell count of Hela cell line after the application of Arum palaestinum three
different extracts.

Although there was no clarification in literature explaining the reason why the hot aqueous
extract gave better anti-cancer effects, it could be reasonable to speculate that the active
ingredients with the anti-cancer activity are water soluble. Reports indicated that phenolic
compounds including flavonoids are promising candidates for cancer prevention.[16]
However, this has to be further investigated using HPLC and GC to specifically identify the
active effective components of each extract.

CONCLUSION
Arum Palaestinum crude extracts (organic, aqueous boiled and aqueous cold) prepared from
the leaves exert variable in-vitro anti- cancer activity against three types of cancer cell lines
with no antimicrobial or antifungal effects. Further investigations (isolation and
identification) of the active compound(s) are needed for possible formulation of new
therapeutic alternatives.

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