Investigating the Effects of Salvia chorassanica Bunge and Shoot Extracts on Gastric Cancer Cells: Evidence of Different Behavior on Various Tumor Grades

Background: Different Salvia species have demonstrated anti-proliferative effects on various cancer cells. Owing to the poor literature on the anti-proliferative effects of Salvia species on gastric cancer cells, present study was conducted to determine the anticancer effects of a local Iranian Salvia, Salvia chorassanica, on two different gastric cell lines. Methods: Root, stem and leaf extract of Salvia chorassanica were prepared through maceration method and were then used to treat the AGS and MKN-45 cell lines in different concentrations. MTT assay was employed to determine the toxicity of all the types of extracts on the two studied cell lines. The expression of Bax, Bcl-2, Caspase3, MMP2 and MMP9 genes were determined through reverse transcription Real time PCR (RT-PCR). Results: Bunge and shoot extracts demonstrated toxicity in both cell lines which were more considerable in AGS cells treated with root extract. In contrary to AGS cells, Caspase3 gene was up-regulated in all types of treatment while the MMP2 and MMP9 genes were down-regulated (p-value 0.001). Except of the MKN-45 cells treated with leaf extract, Bax/Bcl-2 expression ratio was decreased in the treatment with all types of Salvia chorassanica extracts (p-value 0.001). Conclusion: Remarkable low IC50 concentration of root extract in MKN-45 cell line is indicating the significant cytotoxicity of Salvia chorassanica against gastric cancer cells. Moreover, gene expression analysis in MKN-45 needs further confirmation on the potential anti-metastatic roles of leaf and root extracts in higher grades of gastric cancer.