Screening and Evaluation of Lectin and Anti-Cancer Activity from the Phloem Exudate/Sap of the Indian Dietary Ethnomedicinal Plants

Objective: Lectins are extremely significant biomolecules to study several biological progressions. In this present investigation, we are screening the crude phloem exudate/ sap sample from different ethnomedicinal plants were evaluated for lectin and anticancer activity. Methods: The lectin activity of crude phloem exudate/sap samples were confirmed by haemgglutination assay and anticancer activity by using trypan blue, MTT and in-ovo CAM angiogenic assay. The tumor cell nuclei resulting in Giemsa stain, AO/EtBr stain, DNA Fragmentation and Caspase- 3 inhibitor assay. Results: Our experimental data show that the phloem exudate/sap sample S2 (Musa Acuminata), sample S4 (Euphorbia Geniculate) exerting the potent lectin activity, sample S5 exerting very low lectin activity against the trypsinized rabbit erythrocytes and decreases the cell viability in EAC cells in-vitro. Sample S2, S4 and S5 exerts significant cytotoxic effect against the various human cancer cell lines and regressed the neovasculature (development of new blood vessels) in the developing CAM embryos when compared to the other crude samples. The apoptotic inducing activity of crude phloem exudate/sap samples was revealed by DNA fragmentation assay, caspase-3 inhibitor assay and cellular morphology were studied by fluorescence staining methods. Conclusion: This study reports that some of the isolated crude phloem exudate/sap samples show potent lectin activity and anti-cancer activity in different human cancer cell lines. The further additional experiment needs to purify and characterize the bioactive lectin components from the potent sample which is responsible for pro-apoptotic, anti-angiogenic activity and mechanism involved.