Agricultural Science Digest

UGC CARE (Group 1)
  • Year: 2024
  • Volume: 44
  • Issue: 5

Biotransformation of cardenolides from Calotropis procera and their cytotoxic potential against human mammary gland carcinoma cells

  • Author:
  • R. Kiran Kharat1,2,*, R. Vinod Ragade1, R. Amol Kharat3
  • Total Page Count: 8
  • Page Number: 930 to 937

1Department of Zoology, V.G. Vaze College, Mulund, Mumbai-400 081, India

2Department of Zoology, Mizoram University, Aizawl, Mizoram-796 004, India

3Government College of Pharmacy, Aurangabad-431 005, India

Abstract

Poekilocerus pictus (Fabricius 1771), a painted grasshopper, sequesters cardenolides from its food plant, the Apple of Sodom or Aak, Calotropis procera (Aiton) W.T. Aiton (Family-Asclepiadaceae). In our present investigation, we were able to isolate Pseudomonas aeruginosa KRK6 from the intestine of Poekilocerus pictus responsible for the biotransformation of cardenolides.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa KRK6 was grown in methanolic extracts of Calotropis procera and the modified cardenolides were detected by Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LCMS) and also used to induce apoptosis in cancer cells (MCF-7 cells and T-47 D).

The modified cardenolides CPMEP6 was found to induce apoptosis in human breast adenocarcinoma cells (MCF cells- IC50= 6.31±0.4 μg/mL, T-47D cells-IC50= 10.1±1.02 μg/mL). Phosphatidylserine exposure and DNA fragmentation suggested apoptosis in treated cancer cells. CPMEP6 induced apoptosis in cancer cells via the mitochondrial pathway by down-regulating BCL-2 protein expression and up-regulating BAX protein expression.

Keywords

Apoptosis, Biotransformation, Calotropis procera, Cardenolide, Poekilocerus pictus